Evolutionary Study of the Tertiary Primates in South East Asia

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The paleontological excavations were carried at the latest middle Eocene Pondaung Formation (about 37-38 Ma), which is distributed along the west bank of the Chindwin River, Central Myanmar. The main purpose of these investigations is to find the primate fossils, especially of anthropoid primates. Moreover, we have made the geological works at the same area : we made the columnar sections and also found the volcanic ash (tuffaceous layers) at the research area. There have been four genera of primates discovered from the Pondaung Formation : Pondaungia, Amphipithecus, and Myanmarpithecus of the Amphipithecidae, and Bahinia of the Eosimiidae. In addition, we discovered a new species of Eosimias, cf.E.puakkaungensis. Now we are preparing a description paper of an isolated lower molar, which was collected at the Pondaung Formation at Bahin village in 2004 field work.In 2004 and 2005 field seasons, we carried out the preliminary geological research at the outcrops of the Pondaung Formation near Pauk, and found another tuffaceous beds, which contained some zircon minerals. Using the Fission-track method, we obtained about 38 Ma from this zircon minerals, which support the absolute ages obtained from the Pondaung Formation near Bahin village.We have also published several description papers on the mammalian fossils, which were collected from the Pondaung Formation, and also some papers on the paleoenvironment of the Pondaung mammalian fauna.