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A new Miocene ape and locomotion in the ancestor of great apes and humans

Author

Listed:
  • Madelaine Böhme

    (Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen
    Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment)

  • Nikolai Spassov

    (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences)

  • Jochen Fuss

    (Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen
    Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment)

  • Adrian Tröscher

    (Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment)

  • Andrew S. Deane

    (University of Indianapolis)

  • Jérôme Prieto

    (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität)

  • Uwe Kirscher

    (Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen
    Curtin University)

  • Thomas Lechner

    (Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen
    Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment)

  • David R. Begun

    (University of Toronto)

Abstract

Many ideas have been proposed to explain the origin of bipedalism in hominins and suspension in great apes (hominids); however, fossil evidence has been lacking. It has been suggested that bipedalism in hominins evolved from an ancestor that was a palmigrade quadruped (which would have moved similarly to living monkeys), or from a more suspensory quadruped (most similar to extant chimpanzees)1. Here we describe the fossil ape Danuvius guggenmosi (from the Allgäu region of Bavaria) for which complete limb bones are preserved, which provides evidence of a newly identified form of positional behaviour—extended limb clambering. The 11.62-million-year-old Danuvius is a great ape that is dentally most similar to Dryopithecus and other European late Miocene apes. With a broad thorax, long lumbar spine and extended hips and knees, as in bipeds, and elongated and fully extended forelimbs, as in all apes (hominoids), Danuvius combines the adaptations of bipeds and suspensory apes, and provides a model for the common ancestor of great apes and humans.

Suggested Citation

  • Madelaine Böhme & Nikolai Spassov & Jochen Fuss & Adrian Tröscher & Andrew S. Deane & Jérôme Prieto & Uwe Kirscher & Thomas Lechner & David R. Begun, 2019. "A new Miocene ape and locomotion in the ancestor of great apes and humans," Nature, Nature, vol. 575(7783), pages 489-493, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:575:y:2019:i:7783:d:10.1038_s41586-019-1731-0
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1731-0
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