Kapi ramnagarensis
Project
ID: 00000C892
Public
Despite being the most numerous of the living apes, the fossil record of the Asian “lesser apes” (i.e., hylobatids = gibbons and siamangs) is virtually non-existent before ~2 million years ago (Ma). However, the molecular clock strongly suggests that hylobatids should be present by ~20 Ma. Thus, there are large temporal, geographical, and anatomical gaps between early fossil apes in Africa and the earliest hylobatids in Asia. This Morphosource project presents a new ~13 Ma fossil primate from Lower Siwalik deposits of Ramnagar, northern India, that fills in these major gaps in ape evolution, and extends the hylobatid fossil record by ~5 million years. This new fossil also represents the first new ape species from Ramnagar in nearly a century. The ape is called Kapi ramnagarensis.