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

Seiffert E.R.; Tejedor M.F.; Fleagle J.G.; Novo N.M.; Cornejo F.M.; Bond M.; De Vries D.; Campbell K.E. · Science (2020) · DOI: 10.1126/science.aba1135

Resumen

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.