Mediterranean Based Missing Link?

Anoiapithecus brevirostris, a species that existed between apes and humans is being referred to by some researchers in findings released in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences as a 'missing link' and was originally found in a fossil-rich site near Barcelona Spain in 2004. The 11.9-million-year-old fossil ape species has an unusually flat, "surprisingly human" face and has created momentum among scientists to postulate that humans' ape ancestors split from primitive apes in Europe, not Africa—the so-called cradle of humanity. The fossil may also represent the last known common ancestor of humans and living great apes—including orangutans, gorillas, and chimpanzees.

"With this fossil, our opinion is that the origin of our family very probably took place in the Mediterranean region," said study leader Salvador Moyà-Solà of the Catalan Institute of Paleontology in Barcelona. The Mediterranean theory disputes the “Out of Africa” theory, which postulated a completely African origin for modern humans and has been a near-consensus position among scientists, would lose it's acceptance.

Bearing a number of commonalities to both primitive ape species and our early ancestors, Anoiapithecus has been called a missing link. The creature has a wide nose and long palate like many ancient apes, the precursor species that bifurcated into great apes and humans. Leading to further questions is Anoiapithecus' thickly enameled teeth and robust jaw are like those of primitive Kenyapithecus fossil apes (often thought to be common ancestors of humans and the great apes) found in Africa and Europe.

"The Spanish ape suggests this key evolutionary transition occurred after Kenyapithecus arrived in Europe from Africa some 15 million years ago—likely crossing over before the Mediterranean Sea formed, separating Africa from Europe—Moyà-Solà said.

"The 'folks' that migrated from Africa to the Mediterranean area were in fact completely primitive, without the [hominid] features that identify the members of our family," he said.

"The ancestors of gorillas, chimps, and humans then went back to Africa close to some nine million years ago, " and eventually gave rise to the first humans.

"Anthropologist David Begun of the University of Toronto believes the evolution of African apes can be traced to Dryopithecus species that had migrated from Africa to Europe during the pre-Mediterranean Sea period...The new Spanish fossils do indeed support that hypothesis," said Begun. However Begun "does not see any compelling evidence" linking Kenyapithecus with the newfound Spanish species. "Frankly, [the new species] does not look like Kenyapithecus to me," he added.

"Moyà-Solà, the study leader, doesn't rule out the possibility that each of the great ape species evolved independently from different Kenyapithecus species.

"And it's possible that Africa could yet yield a species that, like the new Spanish ape, bridges the gap between early human ancestors and more primitive apes, he admitted.

"It's impossible to test our hypothesis [as of yet], because the fossil record in Africa from this period is very poor," Moyà-Solà said. "We need more and better fossils from Africa."

"To that end, he said, the team's next major scientific stop will be somewhere south of the Mediterranean."