Miocene small-bodied ape from Eurasia sheds light on hominoid evolution

Miocene small-bodied anthropoid primates from Africa and Eurasia are generally considered to precede the divergence between extant catarrhines, i.e., hominoids (apes and humans) and Old World monkeys, being more primitive than the stem ape Proconsul. Here we describe Pliobates cataloniae gen. et sp. nov., a small-bodied (4-5 kg) primate from the Iberian Miocene (11.6 million years ago [Ma]) that displays a mosaic of primitive characteristics coupled with multiple cranial and postcranial shared-derived features of extant hominoids. Our cladistic analyses reveal Pliobates as a stem hominoid more derived than previously-known small catarrhines and Proconsul. This forces us to re-evaluate the role played by small-bodied catarrhines in ape evolution and provides key insight into the last common ancestor of hylobatids (gibbons) and hominids (great apes and humans).