New Fossil Primate from Myanmar Suggests that the Common Ancestor of Monkeys, Apes and Humans Originated in Asia, and Challenges the Role of Adapiform Primates Such as “Ida"

According to new research published online in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B (Biological Sciences) on July 1, 2009, a new fossil primate from Myanmar (previously known as Burma) suggests that the common ancestor of humans, monkeys and apes evolved from primates in Asia, not Africa as many researchers believe.

A major focus of recent paleoanthropological research has been to establish the origin of anthropoid primates (monkeys, apes and humans) from earlier and more primitive primates known as prosimians (lemurs, tarsiers and their extinct relatives). Prior to recent discoveries in China, Thailand, and Myanmar, most scientists believed that anthropoids originated in Africa.

According to Dr. Chris Beard, the new primate Ganlea megacanina shows that early anthropoids originated in Asia rather than Africa. These early Asian anthropoids differed radically from adapiforms like Ida, indicating that Ida is more closely related to modern lemurs than it is to monkeys, apes and humans.

Click here to read the press release.

Illustration: Mark A. Klingler, Carnegie Museum of Natural History

Carnegie Paleontologist Assists in Discovery of "Missing Link" in pinniped evolution

A 2007 fossil-hunting expedition in Canada’s High Arctic led to the exciting discovery of Puijila darwini. Puijila is a transitional fossil—a missing link in the evolution of pinnipeds (the group that includes seals, sea lions and walruses). Entirely new to science, this carnivorous mammal provides insight into what pinnipeds looked like before they were adapted to hunting in the ocean.

The fossil is 24 to 20 million years old and was found in the Haughton Crater on Devon Island by a research team led by Dr. Natalia Rybczynski of the Canadian Museum of Nature and including CArnegie Museum of Natural History's Curator Emeritus of Vertebrate Paleontology Mary Dawson. Click here to read the press release.

Illustration: Mark A. Klingler, Carnegie Museum of Natural History

Little croc looms large over outback town

A new exhibit featuring more fossils of the world's first modern crocodilian opened this week in Isisford, central-western Queensland. Heading up the project was former Carnegie Museum Rea Post-doctoral Fellow Steve Salisbury. Click here to read the article.

Photo: Anthony O'Toole, The University of Queensland

Oldest fossil primate from North America discovered in Mississippi

The 55.8 million year–old fossils, excavated at a site near Meridian, Mississippi, are from a previously unknown species of extinct primate named Teilhardina magnoliana. Because different species of Teilhardina once inhabited all three northern continents at roughly the same time, it has been difficult to reconstruct how these tiny primates dispersed over much of the globe at a time when global climate was changing rapidly while sea levels were also fluctuating. The discovery sheds new light on how the earliest primates migrated to North America during a major global warming event 55.8 million years ago. Click here for the CMNH Press Release. Illustration: Mark A. Klingler/CMNH

New family of mammal really a living fossil

Laonastes aenigmamus, a rodent first described in 2005, made international headlines as the sole member of a new family of mammals. But according to a paper published by a team of international researchers led by Carnegie Museum of Natural History paleontologist Mary Dawson, the animal is actually a surviving member of the rodent family Diatomyidae, thought to be extinct for 11 million years. Click here for the CMNH Press Release. Illustration: Mark A. Klingler/CMNH

New Fossil of the Earliest Swimming Mammal Discovered

CMNH scientists Zhe-Xi Luo and Alan Tabrum were on the research team that discovered a brand new species of swimming mammal, Castorocauda lutrasimilis, from the Jurassic lakebeds of China. The description appears in the February 24, 2006 issue of Science, with cover art (at right) by CMNH Scientific Illustrator Mark A. Klingler. Click here for the CMNH Press Release.

The only book written for a wide audience that explores a remote phase of our own evolutionary history, The Hunt for the Dawn Monkey adds a fascinating new chapter to our understanding of humanity's relationship to the rest of life on earth. Illustrated by award-winning CMNH Scientific Illustrator Mark A. Klingler. Click here for publication and ordering information.

Earliest Mammal
CMNH scientists Zhe-Xi Luo and John Wible have discovered a brand new species of early mammal, dubbed "Popeye" because of its massive forearms. It shows some very unique features that would be otherwise known only in armadillos, but it is older than the armadillo lineage by 100 million years and unrelated to them. Click here for the CMNH Press Release and more images.

Sinodelphys: New Fossil of a Primitive Marsupial Discovered
CMNH scientists Zhe-Xi Luo and John Wible are members of a collaborative team of Chinese and American scientists who discovered Sinodelphys szalayi, a 125-million-year-old fossil animal that is the most primitive and oldest known relative of all marsupial mammals. Click here for more information.

Eomaia: The World's Earliest Known Placental Mammal
This nearly complete skeleton was discovered by an international team of scientists – including Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Zhe-Xi Luo and John Wible – in the famed feathered dinosaur quarry of China’s Liaoning Province.The discovery of this little creature is of big importance to the understanding of the evolution of mammals. Since most mammals living today are placental, all may point to Eomaia scansoria as an ancient ancestor. Click here for more information.

Jeholodens: Unearthing the Roots of the Family Tree
Because very few skeletons of early mammals have been found, scientists have had only vague ideas about their lifestyles. The completeness of the Jeholodens jenkinsi skeleton, however, has allowed CMNH Vertebrate Paleontologist Zhe-Xi Luo and his collaborators to reconstruct some of the complexities of mammalian evolution. Click here for more information.

The Bromacker: A Treasure Trove of Specimens
Since 1993, Carnegie Museum of Natural History paleontologists Dr. David Berman and Amy Henrici have been excavating an abandoned sandstone quarry in Germany. The Bromacker Quarry excavations have yielded fascinating specimens that provide new information about the dominant life forms nearly 80 million years before the Age of Dinosaurs. Click here for more information.

Eosimias: Tracking Our Extended Family
Two exciting fossil discoveries offer clues to the origin and evolution of higher primates—the group that today includes monkeys, apes, and humans. A team of American and Chinese paleontologists, organized by Carnegie Museum of Natural History's Dr. Chris Beard, have unearthed fossilized foot bones that provide us with our first glimpse at the skeleton of primates that are near the common ancestry of monkeys, apes, and humans. Click here for more information.

Hadrocodium: A Mammal the Size of a Paper Clip
An international team of researchers led by Carnegie Museum of Natural History Vertebrate Paleontologist Dr. Zhe-Xi Luo has discovered a 195-million-year-old fossil mammal. This find is the smallest known mammal of the Mesozoic and represents a new branch on the mammalian family tree. The newest addition to the mammalian family group also happens to be the tiniest mammal known from the Mesozoic Era, and one of the smallest mammals ever. Click here for more information.

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