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. 2020 Apr 10;368(6487):194-197.
doi: 10.1126/science.aba1135.

A parapithecid stem anthropoid of African origin in the Paleogene of South America

Erik R Seiffert  1   2 , Marcelo F Tejedor  3   4   5 , John G Fleagle  6 , Nelson M Novo  3 , Fanny M Cornejo  7   8 , Mariano Bond  9 , Dorien de Vries  7 , Kenneth E Campbell Jr  10
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A parapithecid stem anthropoid of African origin in the Paleogene of South America

Erik R Seiffert et al. Science. .

Abstract

Phylogenetic evidence suggests that platyrrhine (or New World) monkeys and caviomorph rodents of the Western Hemisphere derive from source groups from the Eocene of Afro-Arabia, a landmass that was ~1500 to 2000 kilometers east of South America during the late Paleogene. Here, we report evidence for a third mammalian lineage of African origin in the Paleogene of South America-a newly discovered genus and species of parapithecid anthropoid primate from Santa Rosa in Amazonian Perú. Bayesian clock-based phylogenetic analysis nests this genus (Ucayalipithecus) deep within the otherwise Afro-Arabian clade Parapithecoidea and indicates that transatlantic rafting of the lineage leading to Ucayalipithecus likely took place between ~35 and ~32 million years ago, a dispersal window that includes the major worldwide drop in sea level that occurred near the Eocene-Oligocene boundary.

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Comment in

  • Rafting on a wide and wild ocean.
    Godinot M. Godinot M. Science. 2020 Apr 10;368(6487):136-137. doi: 10.1126/science.abb4107. Science. 2020. PMID: 32273458 No abstract available.

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