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Subnasal alveolar morphology and the systematic position of Sivapithecus
Author(s) -
Ward Steven C.,
Kimbel William H.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.1330610204
Subject(s) - lineage (genetic) , morphology (biology) , australopithecus , ancestor , hominidae , eutheria , plateau (mathematics) , paleontology , theria , evolutionary biology , biology , geology , geography , archaeology , biological evolution , cenozoic , structural basin , mathematical analysis , biochemistry , genetics , phanerozoic , mathematics , gene
Recent collecting in the Potwar Plateau of Pakistan has produced several new maxillae attributable to Sivapithecus . Since the subnasal region is preserved in most of these specimens, comparisons with early Miocene hominoid and Pliocene hominid maxillae become possible. On the basis of these comparisons, it has become clear that subnasal/premaxillary morphology distinguishes Asian and African hominoids. Ramapithecus and Sivapithecus share with Pongo an “Asian” subnasal pattern. The Proconsul species from the early Miocene of western Kenya and Australopithecus afarensis from the Hadar Formation of Ethiopia present two subsets of an “African” subnasal pattern. We think it likely that Ramapithecus and Sivapithecus represent a lineage that postdates the last common ancestor of African and Asian hominoids.