Reassessment of the phylogenetic relationships of the late Miocene apes Hispanopithecus and Rudapithecus based on vestibular morphology.

ABSTRACT: Late Miocene great apes are key to reconstructing the ancestral morphotype from which earliest hominins evolved. Despite consensus that the late Miocene dryopith great apes Hispanopithecus laietanus (Spain) and Rudapithecus hungaricus (Hungary) are closely related (Hominidae), ongoing debate on their phylogenetic relationships with extant apes (stem hominids, hominines, or pongines) complicates our understanding of great ape and human evolution. To clarify this question, we rely on the morphology of the inner ear semicircular canals, which has been shown to be phylogenetically informative. Based on microcomputed tomography scans, we describe the vestibular morphology of Hispanopithecus and Rudapithecus, and compare them with extant hominoids using landmark-free

SUBMITTER: Urciuoli A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7865142 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature