Out of African and Dispersal into Eurasia by Hominoids from the Paleontological Perspective.

这项研究的重点是中新世原始人作为人类祖先的进化，特别是在他们走出非洲并分散到欧亚大陆的那些时代。在非洲，首席研究员（Y.Kunimatsu）对肯尼亚中新世灵长类动物化石进行了研究。他进一步扩展了他之前的研究，分析了东非中新世早期的人猿和颈猿化石。在欧亚大陆，重点研究亚洲中新世类人猿化石。在亚洲已知的中新世古人类化石主要是来自印度和巴基斯坦的Sivapithecus，以及来自中国西南部云南省的陆丰猿人。尽管像长臂猿和猩猩这样现存的亚洲人科动物生活在东南亚，但对该地区人科动物化石的研究却很少。然而，近年来在泰国中新世发现了新的类人猿化石，该地区的类人猿化石研究正处于发展阶段。Y.Kunimtasu与其他研究领域的研究人员（如脊椎动物古生物学、古地磁地层学和沉积学）合作，分析了亚洲…更多中新世类人化石。感谢塞萨洛尼基亚里士多德大学的g.k oufos教授的帮助，Y.Kunimatsu也有机会研究来自希腊的马其顿乌拉古猿化石。这个巨大的类人猿化石是在希腊晚中新世早期发现的，被认为与发生在非洲和欧亚大陆之间的类人猿灵长类动物的传播密切相关。Y.Kunimatsu观察并测量了马其顿古猿标本，并将其与东非中新世古猿进行了比较。除了对灵长类动物化石的研究外，我们还以日本猕猴为模型研究了现存灵长类动物形态的种内变异，因为了解现存类群的形态变异对解释化石至关重要。日本猕猴（Macaca fuscata）的优秀骨学收藏现在在日本可用。少

This study has focused on the evolution of the Miocene hominoids as precursors of humans, especially in those ages when they went out of Africa and dispersed into Eurasia. In Africa, the head investigator (Y.Kunimatsu) has conducted his research on the Miocene fossil primates in Kenya. He extended his previous research further, and analyzed fossils of hominoids and cercopithecoids from the early Middle Miocene of East Africa.In Eurasia, the study emphasized the research of Asian Miocene hominoid fossils. Previously known Miocene fossil hominoids in Asia are mainly Sivapithecus from India and Pakistan, and Lufengpithecus from Yunnan Province, southwestern China. Although extant Asian hominoids like gibbons and orangutans live in Southeast Asia, studies of fossil hominoids have been rare in this region. Recently, however, new hominoid fossils have been recovered from the Miocene of Thailand, and fossil hominoid study in this region is now going to develop. Y.Kunimtasu analyzed the Asian … More Miocene hominoid fossils, in cooperation with researchers of other fields of research such as vertebrate paleontology, paleomagnetostratigraphy, and sedimentology.Thanks to the courtesy of Prof.G.Koufos of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Y.Kunimatsu also had an opportunity to investigate the fossils of Ouranopithecus macedoniensis from Greece. This large fossil hominoid is known from the early Late Miocene of Greece, and is considered to be closely related to the dispersal of hominoid primates, which occurred between Africa and Eurasia. Y.Kunimatsu observed and measured the O.macedoniensis specimens and compared them with the East African Miocene hominoids.In addition to the investigations of primate fossils, intraspecificvariationofextantprimatemorphology was also examined by using Japanese macaques as a model case, because understanding the morphological variations of extant taxa is crucial in interpreting fossils. An excellent osteological collection of Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) is now available in Japan. Less