Zanolli Clément, Bouchet Florian, Fortuny Josep, Bernardini Federico, Tuniz Claudio, Alba David M
Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, MCC, PACEA, UMR 5199, F-33600 Pessac, France.
Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici ICTA-ICP, c/ Columnes s/n, Campus de la UAB, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain.
J Hum Evol. 2023 Apr;177:103326. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103326. Epub 2023 Feb 28.
A vast diversity of catarrhines primates has been uncovered in the Middle to Late Miocene (12.5-9.6 Ma) of the Vallès-Penedès Basin (northeastern Spain), including several hominid species (Pierolapithecus catalaunicus, Anoiapithecus brevirostris, Dryopithecus fontani, Hispanopithecus laietanus, and Hispanopithecus crusafonti) plus some remains attributed to 'Sivapithecus' occidentalis (of uncertain taxonomic validity). However, Pierolapithecus and Anoiapithecus have also been considered junior synonyms of Dryopithecus by some authors, which entail a lower generic diversity and an inflated intrageneric variation of the latter genus. Since the distinction of these taxa partly relies on dental features, the detailed and quantitative analysis of tooth shape might help disentangling the taxonomic diversity of these Miocene hominids. Using diffeomorphic surface matching and three-dimensional geometric morphometrics, we investigate the enamel-dentine junction shape (which is a reliable taxonomic proxy) of these Miocene hominids, with the aim of investigating their degree of intra- and intergeneric variation compared with that of extant great ape genera. We conducted statistical analyses, including between-group principal component analyses, canonical variate analyses, and permutation tests, to investigate whether the individual and combined (i.e., Dryopithecus s.l.) variation of the extinct genera exceeds that of the extant great apes. Our results indicate that Pierolapithecus, Anoiapithecus, Dryopithecus, and Hispanopithecus show morphological differences of enamel-dentine junction shape relative to the extant great apes that are consistent with their attribution to different genera. Specifically, the variation displayed by the Middle Miocene taxa combined exceeds that of extant great ape genera, thus undermining the single-genus hypothesis. 'Sivapithecus' occidentalis specimens fall close to Dryopithecus but in the absence of well-preserved comparable teeth for Pierolapithecus and Anoiapithecus, their taxonomic attribution remains uncertain. Among the Hispanopithecus sample, IPS1802 from Can Llobateres stands out and might either be an outlier in terms of morphology, or represent another dryopithecine taxon.
在西班牙东北部的瓦列斯-佩内德斯盆地的中中新世到晚中新世（1250 - 960万年前）期间，已发现了种类繁多的狭鼻类灵长目动物，其中包括几种原始人类物种（加泰罗尼亚皮尔劳猿、短吻阿努猿、丰氏森林古猿、莱塔诺西班牙古猿和克鲁萨丰西班牙古猿），以及一些被归为西方“西瓦古猿”（分类有效性存疑）的遗骸。然而，一些作者也认为皮尔劳猿和阿努猿是森林古猿的次同物异名，这意味着森林古猿属的类属多样性较低，而其属内变异则被夸大。由于这些分类单元的区分部分依赖于牙齿特征，对牙齿形状进行详细的定量分析可能有助于厘清这些中新世原始人类的分类多样性。我们运用微分同胚表面匹配和三维几何形态测量学方法，研究了这些中新世原始人类的釉质-牙本质交界形状（这是一个可靠的分类指标），目的是探究它们与现存大猩猩属相比的属内和属间变异程度。我们进行了统计分析，包括组间主成分分析、典型变量分析和置换检验，以研究已灭绝属的个体变异和综合变异（即广义的森林古猿）是否超过现存大猩猩。我们的研究结果表明，皮尔劳猿、阿努猿、森林古猿和西班牙古猿在釉质-牙本质交界形状上与现存大猩猩存在形态差异，这与它们被归为不同属的分类一致得。具体而言，中新世中期分类单元的综合变异超过了现存大猩猩属，从而削弱了单属假说。西方“西瓦古猿”标本与森林古猿接近，但由于缺乏保存完好的皮尔劳猿和阿努猿可比牙齿，它们的分类归属仍不确定。在西班牙古猿样本中，来自坎洛瓦特雷斯的IPS1802很突出，它在形态上可能是一个异常值，或者代表另一个森林古猿类分类单元。
