The ape superfamily does not really belong to the true ape class. Phylogenetically, true apes, including the living gibbons, orangutans, gorillas, and chimpanzees, belong to a branch of the crowned narrow-nosed monkey family, while the superfamily Plesiosaurus belongs to a branch of the extinct and non-existent dry narrow-nosed monkeys. In short, the Ape Superfamily is a branch before the differentiation of the Ape Superfamily and the Monkey Superfamily, and there are branches such as the Saadan Superfamily, the Tree Ape Superfamily, and the Protoconsur Ape Superfamily, and the phylogenetic relationship is far from that of true apes, so there is no direct ancestral relationship (Figure 1). Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the phylogenetic relationships of some major taxa in the order Primates (the red branch is the location of the superfamily Upper Apes)
Recently, Chinese and foreign scientists published in the journal of human evolution a new genus of ape superfamily found in Fanchang County, Anhui Province (Figure 2): Fanchangia jini. The genus name means Fanchang County, where the fossil originated, and the species name was dedicated to Jin Changzhu, a researcher at the Institute of Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, to commemorate his discovery of the fossil of The Ape of Fanchang and his contribution to the research work of the ancient human activity site of an Avian Font.
The fossil material of the King's Ape includes 108 free teeth (Figure 3). All tooth types in the upper and lower dentitions are covered except for the lower incisors. Associated rodent fossils suggest that the age of fissure accumulation containing Jin's multiplicity can be compared with the Shanwang Formation (about 18-17 million years ago), and slightly younger than the Xiacaowan Formation (about 19-18 million years ago) in Sihong, Jiangsu Province, and belongs to the Early Miocene.
Aerial view of the fossil origin of the Jin's Fanchang Shang ape (right-hand pond rift in the center; herringbone cave site on the far right)
Lower dentition of The Golden Ape (l is a regular specimen)
The Plesiosaur superfamily can be divided into four families, dionysopithecidae, pliopithecidae, crouzeliidae, and krishnapithecidae. The Chinese early and late Miocene drunken ape family (including the drunken ape genus dionysopithecus and the broad-toothed ape genus Platodontopithecus) represent members of the early upper ape superfamily stem group in China and even throughout Eurasia; the Upper Ape family (including the Upper Ape genus Pliopithecus) and the Kruzel ape family (including the genus Plesiopliopithecus, the genus Anapithecus, The genus laccopithecus, Egara ape egarapithecus, and Valvera ape barberapithecus have more derivative features than drunken apes; the Late Miocene Krishna includes only one of the more derived Krishnapithecus in India. Morphological comparisons and results of phylogenetic analysis (Figure 4) indicate that The Apes belong to the stem group members of the Subfamily Kruzel of the Kruzer family. Fig. 4 Phylogenous location of the apes (strict consuitation based on the 6 most minimalist Wagner trees)
Narrow-nosed monkeys originated in the Paleogene period in the Afro-Arab land mass. Before the continent collided with Eurasia in the Early Miocene (about 17-20 million years ago) to form a connection, the narrow-nosed monkeys had evolved the proto-ape superfamily propliopithecoidea, the pliopithecoidea, the proconsuloidea, and the proconsuloidea. Dendropithedoidea and major taxa such as the monkey superfamily cercopithecoidea and hominoidea. However, based on current fossil evidence, the Plesiosaurus superfamily was the first taxa of narrow-nosed monkeys to enter Eurasia without going out of the continent.
The fossil record of the superfamily Plesiosaur is distributed only in the Mesocene strata of Eurasia. The earliest members of the ape superfamily were the drunken ape family from Xiacaowan in Sihong, Jiangsu, in eastern China, dating from about 19-18 million years ago. Although the European fossil record of this period is very rich, there are no fossils of the ape superfamily. This means that the original supercosketylcans entered the tropical and subtropical regions of southern and eastern Asia from Africa through the Arabian Peninsula and along the Indian Ocean circumferential route.
Previous views have been that the upper ape family evolved from these members of the superfamily of squamatidae, including the drunken ape family, which originally came out of Africa, and spread westward to Europe in the late Early Miocene about 16-17 million years ago, while the more specialized Kruzelidae originated in Europe in the Miocene with a member of the upper ape family.
The era of the prosperous apes, which are members of the Kruzer family, predates the emergence of this family and the family Plesiosauridae in Europe. Its discoveries in China suggest that the Upper Ape family and the Kreuzer family diverged in China and spread to Europe only in the late Miocene or Miocene. The primitive features preserved by the flourishing apes suggest that the Kruzel family evolved from an ancestor of the upper ape family or drunken ape family. Members of the European family Kruzer (including Crouzelia of the genus Kruzel, Plesiopliopithecus, and Barbarapithecus, dating from about 14 to 11.2 million years ago) were more fertile than those of the genus Cruzell, and did not begin to appear until at least 3 million years after they appeared in China. In addition, the superfamily specimen of the Great Temple of Inner Mongolia alone has only one upper molar, but may represent a member of the original Kruzel family. If true, it indicates that the Cruzer family continued to diversify during the Miocene in Asia before spreading to Europe.
In short, the discovery of The Ape of Fanchang provides a new understanding of the evolutionary history of the Superfamily of the Ape, which proves that East Asia is an important early evolutionary center of the Superfamily of the Ape, and this study is funded by the Strategic Pilot B Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the People's Government of Fanchang County.