Appraisal of paleontologists from t

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Appraisal of paleontologists from the CNRS on anthropoid primate remains:
A evolution slower than expected!

	At the invition of the Government of the Union of Myanmar ( ex Burma), a team
of paleontologists of the CNRS from the Institut des Science de I'Evolution,
Montepellier,has appraised new primate remains supposed to belong to 40
million years old anthropoids, which have been discovered by a team of the
Office of Strategic Studies, from the Ministry of Defence of Myanmar.
	These remains consist in three new lower jaws, of which a complete mandible
with the two branches. They add to fragments decribed under the name
Amphipithecus, discovered 50 years ago and whose anthropoid status has long
been debated .This form , attributed to a new species, displays a very modern
aspect, and new and former remains confirm their commom origin and their
belonging to anthropoids.
	Their age is Bartonian, i.e. comprised between -41 and -37 millions years. In
order to better precise the age of the fossiliferous levels, the French team
collected samples for palcomagnetic analyses: indeed, sediments preserve the
orientation of the fossil magnetic field for which the analysis contribute to
precise the age of their formation.
	The new anthropoid remains are therefore unquestionably older than those from
the Fayum in Egypt, dated from -34 millions years. These discoveries add to
those made in Thailand, and contribute to enhance the hypothesis of a South
East Asian origin of anthropoids, particularly of the Propliopithecidac, a
group that is believed to be at the origin of higher primates (
cercopithecoids and hominoids). Some representatives of the latters might have
migrated to Africa at the same time, where they might have given rise  to
modern forms.
	In  the classical hypothesis, Asian apes ( gibons, orang-utans,
gigantopitheques) might have an African origin that might go back to  less
than 17 million years. This new hypothesis of a divergence between African and
Asian apes that would date back to about -40 millions years, might have
implications on the measurement of mutation rates during the evolution of apes
and man: this evolution might be much slower than previously expected!


Jean-Jacques Jaeger, Mouloud Benammi, Yaowalak Chairmanee et Stephane Ducrocq
Institut des Sciences de I'Evolution
UMR 5554 CNRS-Universite Montpellier II