Kapi(mammal)
| Kapi Temporal range:Miocene,
| |
|---|---|
Scientific classification
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Suborder: | Haplorhini |
| Infraorder: | Simiiformes |
| Superfamily: | †Pliopithecoidea |
| Genus: | †Kapi Gilbertet al.,2020 |
| Species: | †K. ramnagarensis
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Kapi ramnagarensis Gilbertet al.,2020
| |
Kapiis an extinctprimategenus that lived innorthern Indiaabout 13.8 to 12.5 million years ago during theMiocene.[1][2]Theonly species,K. ramnagarensis,was described in 2020 and is known from a completelower molar.[3]Thefossilwas discovered in 2015 fromRamnagar,a town inJammu and Kashmir,for which the species name was created.[4]Though originally identified as member of thegibbonsand popularised in the news as the oldest gibbon,[1]it was later reassessed as apliopithecoid,a group of extinctOld World monkeys.[5]
Discovery[edit]
Americanpalaeontologistsled by Christopher Gilbert, from theHunter Collegeof the City University of New York and theAmerican Museum of Natural History,and Indian scientists, Ningthoujam Premjit Singh and Rajeev Patnaik, both fromPanjab University,explored theLower Siwaliksof Ramnagar in Jammu and Kashmir since 2010.[6]A number of animal fossils were collected but the most important was a lower jaw bone (mandible) with threemolar teethattached to it which was found in 2014.[7]The fossil was identified as that of a hitherto primate and was named in 2017 asRamadapis sahnii.[6][8]
The team took further exploration of the same area in 2015. One day, as the team took rest, Gilbert noticed a shiny object among a pile of dirt on the ground.[9]As he dug up, the object was amolartooth, as he reported, "We knew immediately it was a primate tooth, but it did not look like the tooth of any of the primates previously found in the area."[7]However, the identification was difficult and only after five years, they were able to identify it as belonging to extinct gibbons. They reported the discovery in theProceedings of the Royal Society Bon 8 September 2020.[3]
Etymology[edit]
Thegeneric nameKapiis from the Hindi term for a monkey or ape.[3]Thespecific nameis after Ramnagar, where thetype specimenwas found.[3]
Features[edit]
Kapiis known only from a single tooth. The specimen is a right lower third molar. It shows lowcrownand generally smaller and narrower than those of other gibbons. The tooth structure indicates that it was afruit-eatingprimate.[3]
Reassessment[edit]
The original report concluded that "if one considersYuanmoupithecusa stem hylobatid,Kapiis equally if not more likely to be one as well, making it the earliest known hylobatid in the fossil record. "[3]Yuanmoupithecusis a gibbon fossil discovered from China in 2006,[10]dated to 6 to 8 million years old.[11]Better fossils were later discovered and reanalysed in 2022 which supported reclassification ofKapias apliopithecoid.[2]
References[edit]
- ^abBower, Bruce (8 September 2020)."A stray molar is the oldest known fossil from an ancient gibbon - Ancestors of these small-bodied apes were in India roughly 13 million years ago, a study suggests".Science News.Retrieved8 September2020.
- ^abJi, Xueping; Harrison, Terry; Zhang, Yingqi; Wu, Yun; Zhang, Chunxia; Hu, Jinming; Wu, Dongdong; Hou, Yemao; Li, Song; Wang, Guofu; Wang, Zhenzhen (2022)."The earliest hylobatid from the Late Miocene of China".Journal of Human Evolution.171:103251.doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103251.ISSN0047-2484.PMID36113226.
- ^abcdefGilbert, Christopher C.; Ortiz, Alejandra; Pugh, Kelsey D.; Campisano, Christopher J.; Patel, Biren A.; Singh, Ningthoujam Premjit; Fleagle, John G.; Patnaik, Rajeev (9 September 2020)."New Middle Miocene Ape (Primates: Hylobatidae) from Ramnagar, India fills major gaps in the hominoid fossil record".Proceedings of the Royal Society B.287(1934): 2020.1655.doi:10.1098/rspb.2020.1655.PMC7542791.PMID32900315.S2CID221538516.
- ^"13-Million-Year-Old Gibbon Ancestor Discovered in India | Sci.News".SciNews.2020-09-09.Retrieved2023-11-10.
- ^de Vries, Dorien; Beck, Robin (2023)."Twenty-five well-justified fossil calibrations for primate divergences".Palaeontologia Electronica:26.1.a8.doi:10.26879/1249.
- ^abGilbert, Christopher C.; Patel, Biren A.; Singh, N. Premjit; Campisano, Christopher J.; Fleagle, John G.; Rust, Kathleen L.; Patnaik, Rajeev (2017)."New sivaladapid primate from Lower Siwalik deposits surrounding Ramnagar (Jammu and Kashmir State), India".Journal of Human Evolution.102:21–41.doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.10.001.ISSN1095-8606.PMID28012462.
- ^ab"New fossil ape discovered in India".ScienceDaily.Retrieved2023-11-10.
- ^California, University of Southern."Newfound primate teeth take a big bite out of the evolutionary tree of life".phys.org.Retrieved2023-11-11.
- ^"13-million-year-old fossil ape discovered in Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur".The New Indian Express.10 September 2020.Retrieved2023-11-10.
- ^Dong, Wei; Qi, Guo-qin (2013-01-31), Wang, Xiaoming; Flynn, Lawrence J.; Fortelius, Mikael (eds.),"Chapter 11. Hominoid- Producing Localities and Biostratigraphy in Yunnan",Fossil Mammals of Asia,New York Chichester, West Sussex: Columbia University Press, pp. 293–313,doi:10.7312/wang15012-011,ISBN978-0-231-52082-9,retrieved2023-11-10
- ^Harrison, Terry (2016), Reichard, Ulrich H.; Hirai, Hirohisa; Barelli, Claudia (eds.),"The Fossil Record and Evolutionary History of Hylobatids",Evolution of Gibbons and Siamang: Phylogeny, Morphology, and Cognition,Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects, New York, NY: Springer, pp. 91–110,doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-5614-2_4,ISBN978-1-4939-5614-2,retrieved2023-11-10
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