The origin of the Hominidae: Africa or Asia?

The authors review the evidence for the evolution of the apes and their geographical expansion out of Africa during the Miocene. The ecological background is discussed at each period.From this it is concluded that Dryopithecines in either Africa or Eurasia could have given rise to early Hominidae and that the ecological conditions in both continents were suitable for the appearance of Hominid adaptations.The evidence for early Hominids is at present more impressive in Eurasia than in Africa, though the African find from Fort Ternan, Kenya, is the earliest. On present evidence, neither continent can be precluded as the place of origin of the Hominidae and it appears to be a possibility that Hominidae evolved in both continents with intermittent gene exchange.     

Plantigrady and foot adaptation in African apes: implications for hominid origins.

In living primates, except the great apes and humans, the foot is placed in a heel-elevated or semi-plantigrade position when these animals move upon arboreal or terrestrial substrates. Heel placement and bone positions in the non-great ape primate foot are designed to increase mobility and flexibility in the arboreal environment. Orangutans have further enhanced foot mobility by adapting their feet for suspension and thus similarly utilize foot positions where the heel does not touch the substrate. Chimpanzees and gorillas represent an alternative pattern (plantigrady), in which the heel contacts the surface of the support at the end of swing phase, especially during terrestrial locomotion. Thus, chimpanzees and gorillas possess feet adapted for both arboreal and terrestrial substrates. African apes also share several osteological features related to plantigrady and terrestrial locomotion with early hominids. From this analysis, it is apparent that hominid locomotor evolution passed through a quadrupedal terrestrial phase.     

Les primates hominoides du Vallésien de Macédoine (Grèce). Étude de la machoire inférieure

The locality of the Ravine of the Rain is located in Lower Macedonia (Greece); it has yielded an important mammalian fauna of Vallesian age (Upper Miocene). An hominoid Primate is present with a lot of well preserved jaws. It is one of the better set of specimens never found in the same locality. His features and caracters are described and compared with those of the others tertiary Hominoids. This is a species which is near of Sivapithecus, Bodvapithecus and Ramapithecus and also it is very near of the ancestry of Gigantopithecus. All these Primates have had a particular ecology and this is probably the set in which we shall find the root of the plio-pleistocen Hominids.     

Catarrhine juvenile mortality in captivity,under seminatural conditions,and in the wild

Juvenile mortality is an important problem in the development of captive populations. I compiled data from published literature on abortion, premature mortality, stillbirth, and death of unweaned young. Cumulative mortality incidences (CMI) during the first month in captive populations (CP) of Cercopithecoidea range between 13 and 51%, and CMI in the first year between 28 and 56%. Mortality rate during the first year ranges between <4 and 48% in free- ranging populations (FRP) and between 10 and 60% in wild populations (WP). Much of the juvenile mortality in CP appears to occur in the first month, whereas in FRP and WP mortality is more scattered throughout the juvenile period. High mortality rates occur in both CP and WP of nonhuman Hominoidea. Mortality rate during the first month in CP is between 12 and 36% for the Hylobatidae and between 18 and 31% for the Pongidae. If the entire juvenile period is considered, gorilla CP and WP have comparable CMI, while CMI is higher in WP than CP for chimpanzees. Most of the juvenile mortality in CP of chimpanzees occurs before the age of 1 year. Trauma, including infanticide and maternal inadequacy, seems to be a more important factor in infant mortality of Cercopithecoidea than infectious disease is. Relatively frequent reports of congenital, hereditary, and/or genetically determined malformations in the Cercopithecoidea may be related to the long use of animals in this group for laboratory purposes. Infectious disease is the most important cause of nonhuman hominoid juvenile mortality, followed by trauma and maternal disorders, particularly related aberrant maternal behavior. Cercopithecoid juvenile mortality risk factors most frequently mentioned in the literature are sex of the infant and rank of the mother: dominant females produce more female offspring, and juvenile males suffer higher mortality than females do. The female skewed sex ratio at birth in gorillas and chimpanzees could be explained by the local resource competition theory. Higher male mortality rates occur in nonhuman Hominoidea, except in two Hylobatesspp. and Pan paniscus,which have higher female mortality. Parity and rearing history of the mother are very important risk factors in nonhuman hominoid infant mortality.     

The relative body weights of Bornean and Sumatran orangutans.

Although original field data suggested that the average Bornean orangutan weighed twice as much as the Sumatran ones, this is shown to be an error. The only statistically significant difference in weight is between males and females, regardless of geographical area or data source.     

L’occlusion dentaire chez les primates supérieurs. Application d’un modèle réduit d’occlusion : la « matrice occlusale »

We analyzed by a reduced-scale model of occlusion named “occlusal matrix” (M.O.), the report of the dental arches between the various anatomical pillars which are the first permanent molars (M1) and the final canines (C). We define thus 3 measurements, the total area of the occlusal matrix: M.O. (AT), the area of the superior face, representing palatine face: M.O. (FS) and the area of the inferior face: M.O. (FI), representing mandibulary face. This morphometric study was carried out on skulls of current Great Apes (Pan, Gorilla and Pongo), medieval and subcurrent populations living in southeast France (Provence) and on skulls mouldings of fossil Hominids. In the evolution of Hominoïds towards the current man, a regular reduction of studied areas and thus of the jaws is confirmed by the recourse to these 3 new measurements designated by our study. In addition, the various stages of this reduction correspond in all points to those described for the general evolution of the higher primates. So, these 3 new measurements appear like particularly powerful describing with a simple tool the occlusal evolution of the Hominoïds and making it possible to better define their phyletic position within the framework of paleontological research.     

Variation in rates of activity and inhibition of serum cholinesterase among anthropoid primates

Cholinesterase activity in the plasma of five hominoid and five cercopithecoid species was measured and characterized by profiles of inhibition by dibucaine and sodium fluoride. Chimpanzees and gorillas strongly resemble humans, and differ from other hominoids and cercopithecoids, in patterns of dibucaine and fluoride resistance and relative activity toward various thio esters. “Silent” cholinesterase phenotypes of probable veterinary significance, and analogous to a rare human variant, are apparently normal in some catarrhine species and are present as a polymorphism among orangutans and lion-tailed macaques.     

The pattern of restriction enzyme-induced banding in the chromosomes of chimpanzee,gorilla, and orangutan and its evolutionary significance

Summary The pattern of banding induced by five restriction enzymes in the chromosome complement of chimpanzee, gorilla, and orangutan is described and compared with that of humans. The G banding pattern induced by Hae III was the only feature common to the four species. Although hominid species show almost complete chromosomal homology, the restriction enzyme C banding pattern differed among the species studied. Hinf I did not induce banding in chimpanzee chromosomes, and Rsa I did not elicit banding in chimpanzee and orangutan chromosomes. Equivalent amounts of similar satellite DNA fractions located in homologous chromosomes from different species or in nonhomologous chromosomes from the same species showed different banding patterns with identical restriction enzymes. The great variability in frequency of restriction sites observed between homologous chromosome regions may have resulted from the divergence of primordial sequences changing the frequency of restriction sites for each species and for each chromosomal pair. A total of 30 patterns of banding were found informative for analysis of the hominid geneaalogical tree. Using the principle of maximum parsimony, our data support a branching order in which the chimpanzee is more closely related to the gorilla than to the human.     

中国新第三纪中—小型猿类化石及其意义

中国新第三纪中－小型猿类主要有早中新世江苏泗洪的双沟醉猿（Ｄｉｏｎｙｓｏｐｉｔｈｅｃｕｓ ｓｈｕａｎ－ｇｏｕｅｎｓｉｓ Ｌｉ,１９７８）和江淮宽齿猿（Ｐｌａｔｏｄｎｔｏｐｉｔｈｅｃｕｓ ｊｉａｎｇｈｕａｉｅｎｓｉｓ Ｇｕ ａｎｄ Ｌｉｎ,１９８３）;中中新世宁夏同心的占祥上猿,（Ｐｌｉｏｐｉｔｈｅｃｕｓ ｚｈａｎｚｉａｎｇｉ Ｈａｒｒｉｓｏｎ,Ｄｅｌｓｏｎ ａｎｄ Ｇｕａｎ,１９９１）和晚中新世云