Dispersal and biogeography
The earliest known undoubted primate fossils are about 55-million-years old from sites in North America, Europe – and now Asia. Scientists had previously classified six of them in the genus Teilhardina. Ni adds T. asiatica to that group, which might therefore be thought to have dispersed throughout the northern continents.
Dr. Martin agrees that the new fossil belongs to the genus Teilhardina, but he argues that only it and T. belgica, found in Europe, belong there because of their shared traits. "The remaining five species previously identified as Teilhardina must, in fact, be from a quite separate genus," he said. "And this means Teilhardina was restricted to Europe and Asia and probably did not disperse all the way to what is now North America."
Dr. Martin's views have wider implications for biogeography, as well. Until recently, scientists believed that direct migration of primates between Asia and Europe around 55 million years ago would not have been possible due to a transcontinental marine barrier that ran from north to south down the middle of Eurasia at the time. Now, the presence of closely related Teilhardina species in China and Belgium adds to mounting evidence that primates and other mammals were able to migrate directly between Europe and Asia 55 million years ago.
In any event, Dr. Martin hails the new fossil as a very significant find. "It provides crucial new information about early primates in Asia that will help us understand the earliest beginnings of the branch that eventually led to human evolution," he said.
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Adapted from materials provided by Field Museum.
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