Emergency Recovery and Preliminary study of Catarrhine Primate Fossils from the Yongle Lignite Mine, Zhaotong, Yunnan Province, China

代表两个可能是新物种的卡他灵长类动物的化石于2009年11月在位于云南省东北部昭通盆地的褐煤矿场永乐被发现，中国。发现的化石包括一个完整的幼年类人猿头盖骨，以及一个几乎完整的柯丁斯恐龙下颌骨。对伴生动物群的初步研究表明，该遗址的时代为中新世晚期或上新世早期。这是一个已知的全球气候变化的间隔期，见证了由于环境的季节性和异质性增加而导致的许多陆地哺乳动物的灭绝和起源。因此，新的永乐类人猿和孔雀化石似乎分别是中新世最年轻的类人猿之一和欧亚大陆猴子中地质上最古老的化石之一。该项目的目标是：(1)由于即将到来的季风季和潜在破坏的双重威胁，立即完成灵长类栖息地的挖掘；(2)对类人族头骨和相关的内石膏进行初步准备、物理稳定和CT扫描；以及(3)对化石产出区的样品进行初步的古地磁分析，以帮助建立该地点的地质年代学框架。该项目对灵长类和哺乳动物进化的研究具有重要意义。它揭示了卡特拉灵长类化石灵长类的新物种，这些新物种可能代表了长臂猿和孔雀谱系的早期成员，并促进了对东亚最新中新世的更深入了解，这一鲜为人知的时期在现代动物群谱系的进化中发挥了关键作用，因为在此期间全球和区域环境发生了戏剧性的变化。该项目的更广泛影响包括与中国科学家和机构的合作，以增加我们对亚洲第三纪晚期哺乳动物和灵长类动物进化的了解。

Fossils representing two, probably new, species of catarrhine primate were recovered in November 2009 from the lignite mine site of Yongle, located in the Zhaotong Basin of northeastern Yunnan Province, China. The fossils recovered include a complete cranium of a juvenile hominoid, and a nearly complete mandible of a colobine. Preliminary study of associated fauna suggests that the site is of late Miocene or early Pliocene age. This is an interval of known global climatic change that witnessed the extinction and origination of many terrestrial mammals due to increased seasonality and heterogeneity of environments. The new Yongle hominoid and colobine fossils thus appear to be, respectively, one of the geologically youngest of the Miocene apes and one of the geologically oldest of the Eurasian monkeys. The objectives of this project are to: (1) immediately complete the excavation of the primate-bearing locality due to duel threats of the impending monsoon season and potenetial vandalism, (2) conduct initial preparation, physical stabilization, and CT-scanning of the hominoid cranium and associated endocast, and (3) conduct preliminary paleomagnetic analysis on samples from the fossil-yielding section to help establish the geochronological framework of the site. This project has important implications for studies of primate and mammalian evolution. It brings to light new species of fossil catarrhine primates that may represent early members of the gibbon and colobine lineages, and promotes a deeper understanding of the latest Miocene in East Asia, a poorly known period that played a crucial role in the evolution of modern faunal lineages due to the dramatic global and regional environmental changes during this time. The broader impacts of this project include the collaboration with Chinese scientists and institutions to increase our knowledge of mammalian and primate evolution in the late Tertiary of Asia.