The timing and geography of African ape and human origins: New evidence from Europe, Africa and Asia.

非洲猿和人类起源的时间和地理：来自欧洲、非洲和亚洲的新证据。

• 批准号: RGPIN-2016-06761
• 负责人: Begun, David
• 金额: $ 2.33万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=710389
• 关键词: timing; geography; African; ape; human

I propose to carry out a broad program of research the major themes of which are to test the hypothesis that the African apes and human lineage (hominines) originated in Europe and not Africa and to work out the timing of major events in ape evolutionary history. The hypothesis of a European origin of the African ape and human lineage is a significant departure from current theory. It has long been assumed that the hominines originated and evolved exclusively in Africa. The only hominine to ever leave Africa was humans, roughly 2 million years ago. Now new evidence suggests that hominines actually arose in Europe. The dryopithecins are a group of great apes known from Europe and possibly China between about 12.5 and 9 million years ago. Well preserved fossils from Spain and Hungary have characters of the dentition, palate, face, brain case, basicranium and overall skull that are only found in living African apes and humans. In contrast, there are no great ape fossils known from Africa until about 10.5 Ma, when fragmentary fossils interpreted by some to be hominine are known. During my current grant cycle we discovered a new ape site in Hungary with a new species of fossil ape. We also re-discovered the site from which the first fossil ape was described and began exploring for new fossils there. Although St. Gaudens is the namesake (type) site of Dryopithecus, we know little about its age or ecology. We initiated surveys in western Romania and Croatia, discovering several promising sites. The research program I propose is a follows: 1) We will continue our exploration in the Balkans and the Carpathian Basin, geographically between the rich sites of the Pannonian basin to the north and Macedonia (Greece) to the south. 2) The continued description and analysis of the large sample of fossils from Rudabnya. 3) We will carry out the most comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of fossil apes ever using data obtained exclusively from direct examination of the fossil record. 4) I will continue the project in Kenya on the systematics, phylogeny and paleobiology of early Miocene apes. Now that we have named a new genus we will be allocating all specimens to individual taxa, describing these newly constituted taxa in detail, and reassessing the evolutionary history of these early Miocene apes. 5) Finally, we have begun a scanning protocol involving both micro CT scanning and sychrotron scanning of fossil apes from Rudabnya, Alstelekes (the new site) and St. Gaudens that will reveal a vast body of new evidence of the internal anatomy and the growth and development of these fossil apes. Growth indicators in the teeth of mammals reveal many indications of life history that are otherwise unknowable in fossil species. With this research we will be able to build the strongest case so far for the area of origin of our lineage and describe in more detail than ever the nature of the first apes and the common ancestor of the African apes and humans.

我建议开展一项广泛的研究计划，其主要主题是检验非洲猿和人类谱系（人科）起源于欧洲而不是非洲的假设，并确定猿进化史上重大事件的时间。非洲猿和人类谱系起源于欧洲的假设与当前的理论有很大的不同。长期以来，人们一直认为人类只在非洲起源和进化。唯一离开非洲的人类是人类，大约在200万年前。现在新的证据表明，人类实际上起源于欧洲。森林古猿是一群生活在欧洲的类人猿，可能在1250万年前至900万年前的中国。来自西班牙和匈牙利的保存完好的化石具有仅在现存的非洲猿和人类中发现的齿系、腭、面部、脑壳、基颅和整个头骨的特征。相比之下，直到大约10.5 Ma，非洲才发现巨猿化石，当时一些人认为化石碎片是人类。 在我目前的资助周期中，我们在匈牙利发现了一个新的猿类遗址，那里有一种新的猿类化石。我们还重新发现了描述第一个猿化石的地点，并开始在那里寻找新的化石。虽然圣高登斯是森林古猿的同名（典型）地点，但我们对它的年龄或生态知之甚少。我们在罗马尼亚西部和克罗地亚开展了调查，发现了几个有希望的地点。我提出的研究计划如下：1）我们将继续在巴尔干半岛和喀尔巴阡山脉盆地进行勘探，地理位置位于北部潘诺尼亚盆地和南部马其顿（希腊）的丰富地点之间。2)对鲁达布尼亚大样本化石的继续描述和分析。3)我们将使用直接检查化石记录获得的数据，对化石猿类进行最全面的系统发育分析。4)我将继续在肯尼亚进行有关中新世早期猿类的系统学、生殖发育学和古生物学的项目。现在我们已经命名了一个新属，我们将把所有标本分配到各个分类群，详细描述这些新组成的分类群，并重新评估这些中新世早期猿类的进化历史。5)最后，我们已经开始了一项扫描协议，包括对来自Rudabnya，Alstelekes（新地点）和St. Gaudens的化石猿进行显微CT扫描和同步加速器扫描，这将揭示大量关于这些化石猿的内部解剖和生长发育的新证据。哺乳动物牙齿中的生长指标揭示了许多生命史的迹象，这些迹象在化石物种中是不可知的。通过这项研究，我们将能够为我们的血统起源地区建立迄今为止最强有力的案例，并比以往任何时候都更详细地描述第一批猿类的性质以及非洲猿和人类的共同祖先。