The Miocene primate Pliobates is a pliopithecoid

Florian Bouchet (), Clément Zanolli, Alessandro Urciuoli, Sergio Almécija, Josep Fortuny, Josep M. Robles, Amélie Beaudet, Salvador Moyà-Solà and David M. Alba ()
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Florian Bouchet: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès
Clément Zanolli: UMR 5199
Alessandro Urciuoli: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès
Sergio Almécija: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès
Josep Fortuny: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès
Josep M. Robles: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès
Amélie Beaudet: Paléoécosystèmes et Paléoprimatologie (PALEVOPRIM), UMR 7262 CNRS, Univ. Poitiers
Salvador Moyà-Solà: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès
David M. Alba: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract The systematic status of the small-bodied catarrhine primate Pliobates cataloniae, from the Miocene (11.6 Ma) of Spain, is controversial because it displays a mosaic of primitive and derived features compared with extant hominoids (apes and humans). Cladistic analyses have recovered Pliobates as either a stem hominoid or as a pliopithecoid stem catarrhine (i.e., preceding the cercopithecoid–hominoid divergence). Here, we describe additional dental remains of P. cataloniae from another locality that display unambiguous synapomorphies of crouzeliid pliopithecoids. Our cladistic analyses support a close phylogenetic link with poorly-known small crouzeliids from Europe based on (cranio)dental characters but recover pliopithecoids as stem hominoids when postcranial characters are included. We conclude that Pliobates is a derived stem catarrhine that shows postcranial convergences with modern apes in the elbow and wrist joints—thus clarifying pliopithecoid evolution and illustrating the plausibility of independent acquisition of postcranial similarities between hylobatids and hominids.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47034-9

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