Primate Origin

Phylogenetic Relationships among Miocene Primates
Each paleoanthropologist has his or her own slightly differing view on phylogenetic
relationships within Miocene apes. Moreover, each researcher has formulated different
hypotheses on which Miocene ape(s) evolved into living apes, like gorillas and
chimpanzees. In most cases, these issues result from researcher speciality in one biogeographic
region (e.g., Africa vs. Europe). We’re only going to cover the “within”
aspect of phylogenetics in fossil apes—in other words, we’re not going to look at phylogenetic
relationships between fossil and modern apes—as there is only tenuous evidence
for relationships between fossil apes and extant apes. Many researchers group
the small-bodied forms into the catarrhine monkey clade and the large-bodied taxa
into the hominoid clade. You should note, again, that this over-reliance on one
phenetic feature, body size, is not a particularly strong scientific method. Using a
strict cladistic analysis of the total evidence, David Begun (2002) provides an interesting
theory on the evolutionary history of Miocene apes (Figure 5.13). This theory
holds that over the course of millions of years there were waves of migrations by
Miocene apes out of and then back into Africa. In the early Miocene, fossil apes
originated with Proconsul and then Afropithecus in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.
More derived forms then evolved during the middle to late Miocene in Africa (Kenyapithecus)
and Europe (Oreopithecus). During the middle to late Miocene, two
clades of Miocene apes existed in Europe (Ouranopithecus and Dryopithecus) and
across a wide area of Eurasia (Ankarapithecus) and Asia (Sivapithecus, Lufengpithecus,
Sivapithecus). Finally, the victoriapithecids tend to be positioned as basal to all
extant Old World monkeys.
Figure 5.13
Phylogenetic relationships
of Miocene
primates.