Fossil found in an ancestor of monkeys and hominids in Arabia

2010/09/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Eboluzioa
• Paleontologia
• Arkeologia

In the territories near Mecca, the fossil of a primate of 29 million years ago has been discovered. The species has been called Saadanius hijazensis. The fossil is part of a skull and, according to paleontologists at the University of Michigan, has characteristics of monkeys and hominids, so it was the common ancestor of both branches. Experts have stressed that it has an inner ear tube that does not occur in other primates of the time. However, it lacks other characteristics such as the type of nose of the catarrines, that is, the structure that we have humans and many monkeys: two nostrils separated by a cartilage.