Tshen Lim Tze
Museum of Zoology, Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Primates. 2016 Jan;57(1):39-50. doi: 10.1007/s10329-015-0493-z. Epub 2015 Sep 30.
The genus Pongo has a relatively richer Quaternary fossil record than those of the African great apes. Fossil materials are patchy in terms of anatomical parts represented, limited almost exclusively to isolated teeth, jaw and bone fragments. Fossil evidence indicates that the genus Pongo had a broadly continuous distribution across the southern part of the Indomalayan biogeographic region, ranging in time from Early Pleistocene to Holocene: southern China (77 fossil sites), Vietnam (15), Laos (6), Cambodia (2), Thailand (4), Peninsular Malaysia (6), Sumatra (4), Borneo (6) and Java (4). Within this distribution range, there are major geographical gaps with no known orangutan fossils, notably central and southern Indochina, central and southern Thailand, eastern Peninsular Malaysia, northern and southern Sumatra, and Kalimantan. The geological time and place of origin of the genus remain unresolved. Fossil orangutan assemblages usually show greater extent of dental metrical variation than those of modern-day populations. Such variability shown in prehistoric populations has partially contributed to confusion regarding past taxonomic diversity and systematic relationships among extinct and living forms. To date, no fewer than 14 distinct taxa have been identified and named for Pleistocene orangutans. Clear cases suggestive of predation by prehistoric human are few in number, and limited to terminal Pleistocene-Early Holocene sites in Borneo and a Late Pleistocene site in Vietnam.
与非洲大型猿类相比，猩猩属拥有相对丰富的第四纪化石记录。就所呈现的解剖部位而言，化石材料并不完整，几乎仅局限于孤立的牙齿、颌骨和骨骼碎片。化石证据表明，猩猩属在东洋生物地理区域南部有着广泛连续的分布，时间跨度从早更新世到全新世，分布地点包括中国南部（77个化石地点）、越南（15个）、老挝（6个）、柬埔寨（2个）、泰国（4个）、马来半岛（6个）、苏门答腊岛（4个）、婆罗洲（6个）和爪哇岛（4个）。在这个分布范围内，存在一些没有已知猩猩化石的主要地理空白区域，特别是印度支那中部和南部、泰国中部和南部、马来半岛东部、苏门答腊岛北部和南部以及加里曼丹。该属的地质起源时间和地点仍未确定。与现代种群相比，化石猩猩组合通常显示出更大程度的牙齿测量变异。史前种群中表现出的这种变异性在一定程度上导致了关于过去分类多样性以及已灭绝和现存物种之间系统关系的混乱。迄今为止，已识别并命名了不少于14个不同的更新世猩猩分类单元。明确显示被史前人类捕食的案例数量很少，且仅限于婆罗洲的晚更新世 - 早全新世遗址以及越南的一个晚更新世遗址。
