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Upsetting Evolutionary Timeline: 9.7 Million Year Old Teeth Found in Germany May Belong to Human Relative

Friday, October 20, 2017 14:25

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Two 9.7 million year old teeth may belong to an unknown human relative. Scientists are not sure where the new discovered European great ape fits in the family tree.

In September 2016, two teeth of an up to now undeclared member of the Hominoid family were found in sediments of the Proto-Rhine River near Eppelsheim, Germany along with fossils of 25 mammals in various positions. Together with other finds from Eppelsheim and the Wissberg location, which is only 18 km away, these are the northernmost occurrences of Miocene primates in Europe . Both teeth, the crowns of an upper left canine and an upper right first molar, are exceptionally well preserved and obviously come from the same body of unknown sex.

The relative size of the canine, ie the ratio of the buccal heights of C and M1 , is similar to those of

Dryopithecus sp., Ankarapithecus meteai and Ardipithecus ramidus . In size and shape of the canine probably indicate that the new species from Eppelsheim had lost a honing (C / p3 ) complex approx. 9.7 Ma ago. From all information gathered up to now, the question arises, if the Eppelsheim species may be related to members of the African hominin tribe

Molar (left) and canine (right) fossils found in Germany raise questions about human history.

Credit: Naturhistorisches Museum Mainz

The sediment in which the teeth were found and the accompanying animal fossils point to an age shortly before the Mid-Vallesian crisis at approximately 9.7 Ma (million years ago) . While the molar shares features are with other animals , the canine reveals intriguingly potential hominin affinities: its lingual outline is clearly diamond-shaped; its ratio of lingual height /mesiodistal length is within the range of Australopithecus afarensis , Ardipithecus ramidus, Ardipithecus kadabba, and females of Pan troglodytes .

Herbert Lutz, director of Natural History Museum Mainz, who led the excavation says on Researchgate,” It’s possible that, with the morphology of this canine tooth being so similar to more recent examples from Africa, the species could be related. That would mean that a group of primates was in Europe before they were in Africa.”

“There’s also the phenomenon of convergence, when evolutionary pressure causes the same characteristic to develop in multiple locations. Now the questions is whether it’s possible that’s what happened. There are few thousand kilometers between the species in East Africa and here in Central Europe, and millions of years. Is it possible that this uncannily similar characteristic developed two times, completely independently of one another. So here we are, perplexed. We want to collaborate with other researchers to process these finds, and hopefully in one or two years, we’ll know a lot more about what we’ve got on our hands. It’s definitely a fantastic, exciting story,.” says Lutz.

From all information gathered up to now, the question arises, if the newly discovered Eppelsheim species may be related to members of the African hominin tribe. The relative size of the canine is similar to Dryopithecus sp., Ankarapithecus meteai but also Ardipithecus ramidus.

The fossil beds at Eppelsheim is one of the most traditional fossil sites in the world and its importance has been recognized since the late-18th century. Incredible discoveries excavated during the late-18th century and into the 19th century gave this region and esteemed reputation. The world’s first partial fossil ape skeleton was discovered at Eppelsheim, along with other mammalian species, including various Artiodactyla, mastodons, three-toed Urpferdes Hippotherium (singular Hipparion) primigenium.

Ankarapithecus meteai is a genus of extinct ape. It was probably frugivorous, and would have weighed about 27 kilograms (60 lb). Its remains were found close to Ankarain central Turkey beginning in the 1950s. It lived during the Late Miocene and was similar to Sivapithecus.

Credit: Ghedoghedo/Wikimedia Commons

Since 1931 six more hominoid teeth and a few fragments had been unearthed on the Wissberg near GauWeinheim, ca. 18 km NW of Eppelsheim, in the course of commercial sand quarrying and during scientific excavations in the years 1934 -1935. These were directed by Otto Schmidtgen, former director of the Naturhistorisches Museum Mainz (Schmidtgen 1935). Unfortunately, these teeth are lost since 1945.

Reexamination of African, European and Asian late Miocene apes with this in mind, may reveal that

one or other of the four or more lineages now commonly accepted to share features with younger lineages in both Africa and Asia. If this is correct, the European fossil record may well hold the key to understand the origins of all extant apes “- Martin Pickford (2012:142) .

From all information gathered up to now, the question arises, if the newly discovered Eppelsheim species may be related to members of the African hominin tribe.

Although hominoid finds are rare in Germany (9 – 10 finds in the past 200 years) - the two additional hominoid fossils that were found in the Dinotheriensande of Eppelsheim show the current excavations at Eppelsheim should be continued and - after more than 80 years – new scientific excavations on the Wissberg should be started. The Wissberg- in both, sedimentological as well as paleoecological respects a possible northern counterpart to Eppelsheim – would provide additional new information – and fossils. Despite their great rarity, more finds of hominids might come to light at both localities conclude the authors of “A new great ape with startling resemblances to African members of the hominin tribe, excavated from the Mid-Vallesian Dinotheriensande of Eppelsheim”

Contacts and sources:
Herbert Lutz
Natural History Museum Mainz

Citation: A new great ape with startling resemblances to African members of the hominin tribe, excavated from the Mid-Vallesian Dinotheriensande of Eppelsheim. First report (Hominoidea, Miocene, MN 9, Proto-Rhine River, Germany) Herbert Lutz Thomas Engel, Bastian Lischewsky, Axel Von Berg

PDF Download Available) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320518472_A_new_great_ape_with_startling_resemblances_to_African_members_of_the_hominin_tribe_excavated_from_the_Mid-Vallesian_Dinotheriensande_of_Eppelsheim_First_report_Hominoidea_Miocene_MN_9_Proto-Rhine_Riv [accessed Oct 20 2017].

https://www.researchgate.net/blog/post/9-7-million-year-old-teeth-fossils-raise-questions-about-human-origin

Source: http://www.ineffableisland.com/2017/10/upsetting-evolutionary-timeline-97.html

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Comments

Total 1 comment

Pink Slime

LOL! One little tooth and EVOLUTION is true.

Nov 7, 2017, 12:43 pm 0 Reply

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