Morphometric analysis of fossil hylobatid molars from the Pleistocene of southern China

Bibliographic Data

ID6135920
AuthorsAlejandra Ortiz (0000-0003-3780-0952, Arizona State University), Yingqi Zhang (0000-0001-7783-8336, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Changzhu Jin (0000-0001-8309-9883, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Yuan Wang (0000-0003-1439-5288, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Min Zhu (0009-0004-6196-8661, Beijing Normal University), Yaling Yan (The Geoscience Museum, Hebei GEO University, Shijiazhuang), Clare M Kimock (0000-0001-9560-7427, New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology), Clare Kimock (New York University), Catalina I Villamil (0000-0001-8115-0112, Central University of the Caribbean), Kai He (0000-0003-2335-7638, Southern Medical University), Terry Harrison (0000-0003-4224-0152, New York University)
Year2019
Volume127
Issue2
Pages109-121
Publication date2019-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAnthropological Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0918-7960 • E-ISSN: 1348-8570
PublisherAnthropological Society of Nippon (PUBLISHER • JP)
DOI10.1537/ase.190331
OpenAlexW2951152795
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited43

This study investigates the morphological variation and taxonomic affinities of 28 fossil gibbon molars from eight newly discovered Pleistocene cave sites in the area of Chongzuo, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. A recent descriptive analysis demonstrated that these fossil teeth form a uniform group that can be assigned to a single species of Nomascus. In this contribution, a two-dimensional morphometric approach is employed to examine the Chongzuo specimens in comparison with a large sample of extant hylobatids, as well as with previously reported hylobatid dental remains from the Pleistocene of China. Buccolingual and mesiodistal measurements and crown outline areas reveal that the Chongzuo molars correspond most closely with Nomascus and, to a lesser extent, Hoolock. Crown shape was investigated using elliptical Fourier analysis. Our results show that the Chongzuo specimens fall in most cases either within the range of variation of extant Nomascus to the exclusion of all other hylobatid genera, or their distance from the cluster represented by the Nomascus sample is relatively small. Similarly, the Mahalanobis distances for crown shape show a trend towards smaller morphological distances between the Chongzuo specimens and Nomascus, followed by Hoolock and Hylobates. The Chongzuo molars are also morphometrically distinct from Bunopithecus sericus, but fall within the range of overlap of other Pleistocene hylobatid dental remains from southern China. The balance of evidence indicates that the Chongzuo teeth can be attributed to cf. Nomascus. The fossil teeth are sufficiently distinct from those of extant Nomascus that they may represent an extinct species

Biology · Crown (dentistry · Evolutionary biology · Extant taxon · Pleistocene · Range (aeronautics · Zoology · Evolution and Paleontology Studies · Morphological variations and asymmetry · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Orthodontics · Paleontology