TY - JOUR
T1 - Fossil Cercopithecidae from the Early Pliocene Sagantole Formation at Gona, Ethiopia
AU - Frost, Stephen R.
AU - Simpson, Scott W.
AU - Levin, Naomi E.
AU - Quade, Jay
AU - Rogers, Michael J.
AU - Semaw, Sileshi
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage (ARCCH) of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the National Museum of Ethiopia (NME) for permission to access specimens in their care. We also thank the Afar Regional State administration at Semera and our Afar colleagues from Elowaha. Fieldwork participants in the faunal surveys included, but are not limited to, Asahamed Humet, Yasin Ismail Mohamed, Wegenu Amerga, Mohamed Ahmedin, Kampiro Qairento, Bizayehu Tegegne, Travis Pickering, Emma Smith, Stephanie Melillo, and Monya Anderson. David Alba, Amélie Beaudet, and three anonymous reviewers provided comments and suggestions that improved this paper. Major support for the Gona Research Project was provided by the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation (S.S.), and additional funding for field and laboratory research was provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation ( NSF SBR-9818353 to S.S.; and NSF HOMINID-RHOI BCS-0321893 to Tim White and F. Clark Howell), the National Geographic Society (S.S.; J.Q.), Wenner-Gren Foundation (S.S.), the E.U. Marie Curie (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-CIG) and MINECO (HAR2013-41351-P to S.S.). Funding to study the fossils described here came from the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation and University of Oregon (S.R.F.).
PY - 2020/7
Y1 - 2020/7
N2 - The Early Pliocene Sagantole Fm. in the Gona Project area, Afar State, Ethiopia, is noted for discoveries of the early hominin Ardipithecus ramidus. A large series of fossil cercopithecid primates dated to between 4.8 and 4.3 Ma has also been collected from these sediments. In this paper, we use qualitative analysis and standard dental and postcranial measures to systematically describe the craniodental remains and tentatively allocate postcrania to taxa where we are able to. We then use these data to compare these specimens to fossil assemblages from contemporary sites, interpret their paleobiology, and discuss implications for the paleoecology of the Gona Sagantole Fm. We recognize three cercopithecid species in the Gona Sagantole Fm. Pliopapio alemui makes up approximately two-thirds of the identifiable specimens; nearly all of the rest are allocated to Kuseracolobus aramisi, and a single molar indicates the presence of a second, somewhat larger but morphologically distinct papionin. Among the Early Pliocene cercopithecids from Gona are also a number of postcranial elements. None of the postcranial remains are directly associated with any of the cranial material. Nonetheless, some of the distal humeri and proximal femora can be tentatively allocated to either Pl. alemui or K. aramisi based on a combination of size, as the latter is approximately 50% larger than the former, and morphology. If these assignments are correct, they suggest K. aramisi was primarily arboreal and similar to most extant colobines, whereas Pl. alemui was more mixed in its substrate use, being more terrestrially adapted than K. aramisi, but less so than extant Papio or Theropithecus. Thus, we interpret the predominance of Pl. alemui over K. aramisi is consistent with a somewhat more open environment at Gona than at Aramis.
AB - The Early Pliocene Sagantole Fm. in the Gona Project area, Afar State, Ethiopia, is noted for discoveries of the early hominin Ardipithecus ramidus. A large series of fossil cercopithecid primates dated to between 4.8 and 4.3 Ma has also been collected from these sediments. In this paper, we use qualitative analysis and standard dental and postcranial measures to systematically describe the craniodental remains and tentatively allocate postcrania to taxa where we are able to. We then use these data to compare these specimens to fossil assemblages from contemporary sites, interpret their paleobiology, and discuss implications for the paleoecology of the Gona Sagantole Fm. We recognize three cercopithecid species in the Gona Sagantole Fm. Pliopapio alemui makes up approximately two-thirds of the identifiable specimens; nearly all of the rest are allocated to Kuseracolobus aramisi, and a single molar indicates the presence of a second, somewhat larger but morphologically distinct papionin. Among the Early Pliocene cercopithecids from Gona are also a number of postcranial elements. None of the postcranial remains are directly associated with any of the cranial material. Nonetheless, some of the distal humeri and proximal femora can be tentatively allocated to either Pl. alemui or K. aramisi based on a combination of size, as the latter is approximately 50% larger than the former, and morphology. If these assignments are correct, they suggest K. aramisi was primarily arboreal and similar to most extant colobines, whereas Pl. alemui was more mixed in its substrate use, being more terrestrially adapted than K. aramisi, but less so than extant Papio or Theropithecus. Thus, we interpret the predominance of Pl. alemui over K. aramisi is consistent with a somewhat more open environment at Gona than at Aramis.
KW - Ardipithecus ramidus
KW - Kuseracolobus
KW - Paleobiology
KW - Pliopapio
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102789
DO - 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102789
M3 - Article
C2 - 32485477
AN - SCOPUS:85085551825
VL - 144
JO - Journal of Human Evolution
JF - Journal of Human Evolution
SN - 0047-2484
M1 - 102789
ER -