Tlemcen: The African origin of anthropoid primates challenged

University - research Tlemcen: The African origin of anthropoid primates challenged The cranial and dental remains of two species of primate fossils were discovered at an excavation site in Algeria. They show that small primates Algeripithecus aged 50 million years, until now considered the oldest of the African apes, actually belongs to another group: those of Lemuriformes. This research was conducted by Profs. Bensalah Mustapha Mohammed and ADAC paleontologists University Abu Bakr Belkaid of Tlemcen, Mr Mahboubi University of Oran, the Pr Mebrouk University of Jijel, and a team of French researchers from the Institute of Human evolution (University of Montpellier CNRS) headed by Mr. R. Tabuce and L. Marivaux and young researchers Algerian and French doctoral students. Their publication online at the website of the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B (Biological Sciences) September 9, 2009, relaunching the debate on the African apes, that humans and apes belong, according to a statement Press Center National de la Recherche Scientifique. In 1992, the small Algeripithecus primate fossil was discovered in the Algerian Sahara. Old 50 million years ago, weighing just 75 grams and experienced paleontologists through the remains of two molars, this primate was considered the oldest anthropoid from the African continent. Thus, the discovery of Algeripithecus has greatly contributed to the basis of the assumption that Africa is the cradle of anthropoid primates, a group that humans and apes belong. Another primate has been known longer: Azibius. It is one of the oldest representatives of African Lemuriformes, another group of primates, represented today by the lemurs in Madagascar, Central African galagos and lorises of Southeast Asia. On the site Glib Zegdou north-west of Algeria, a French team of the Institut des Sciences de l'evolution de Montpellier (University of Montpellier / CNRS) in collaboration with Algerian researchers have unearthed the skull and dental material d 'Algeripithecus and Azibius. They found such as mandibles almost complete. These remains have revealed a number of characteristics typical of group Lemuriformes, including an adaptation to life at night and suggested the presence of a "dental comb" (1) in front of the lower jaw. Palaeontologists have found qu'Algeripithecus, like its close relative of Azibius belonged not to the families of anthropoid primates, but it was probably one of the oldest representatives in Africa Lemuriformes. In Egypt, more than a dozen anthropoid primate fossils dating from 30 to 38 million years is long known. Thus, the recent discovery Franco-Algerian younger than 15 million years the first real emergence of anthropoid primates in Africa. With heavy consequences on the evolutionary history of anthropoid primates in Africa, this finding reinforces even more the alternative hypothesis of the Asiatic origin of anthropoids. Moreover, these paleontological research reveal an unexpected diversity and great length of the first Lemuriformes in Africa. Gadiri Mohammed. December 22, 2009