Shuitangba Mesopithecus pentelicus comparison data
Comparative datasets used for analysis of a M. pentelicus mandible and proximal femur from Shuitangba lignite mine in Zhaotong Prefecture, China. Paper Abstract: A dentate mandible and proximal femur of Mesopithecus pentelicus Wagner, 1839 are described from the Shuitangba lignite mine in Zhaotong Prefecture, northeastern Yunnan Province, China. The remains were retrieved from sediments just below those which yielded a juvenile Lufengpithecus cranium and are dated at about ~6.4 Ma. The mandible and proximal femur were found in close proximity and are probably of the same individual. The lower teeth are metrically and morphologically closely comparable to those of confirmed M. pentelicus from Europe, and on this basis the specimen is assigned to this species. The anatomy of the proximal femur indicates that the Shuitangba colobine was semiterrestrial quadruped that engaged in a with a range of mostly arboreal activities, including walking, climbing, and occasional leaping, with an abducted hip joint. The Shuitangba Mesopithecus is dentally typical for the genus but may have been more arboreal than previously described for M. pentelicus. M. pentelicus is well known from late Miocene (MN11-12) sites in Europe and southwest Asia. Its estimated average rate of dispersal eastward was relatively slow, although it could have been episodically more rapid. The presence of a colobine only slightly lower in the same section at Shuitangba that produced Lufengpithecus provides is one of only two well-documented instances of the near or actual co-occurrence a monkey and ape in the Miocene of Eurasia. At Shuitangba, M. pentelicus occupied a freshwater margin habitat with beaver, giant otter, swamp rabbit, and many aquatic birds.
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Work Title | Shuitangba Mesopithecus pentelicus comparison data |
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License | CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives) |
Work Type | Dataset |
DOI | doi:10.26207/9ts1-dn46 |
Deposited | May 19, 2020 |
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