New Sivapithecus humeri from Pakistan and the relationship of Sivapithecus and Pongo |
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| Authors: | D Pilbeam M D Rose J C Barry S M Shah |
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| Institution: | Department of Anthropology, Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138. |
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| Abstract: | New humeri of two species of the Miocene hominoid Sivapithecus are described from near Chinji in Pakistan from between approximately 9 and 11 Myr ago. Sivapithecus, a middle and late Miocene hominoid from Turkey and Indo-Pakistan, is overall unlike any living hominoid, although facial-palatal similarities to the extant orangoutan, Pongo, have been used to support a hypothesis of close relationship. Living hominoids have postcranial similarities assumed to be shared derived, among them features of the proximal humerus. However, the new Sivapithecus proximal humeri differ from those of living hominoids, supporting an alternative hypothesis in which Sivapithecus and Pongo are not closely related. It is not clear how to choose between these incompatible hypotheses. |
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