Fossil Hominoids from Pleistocene Cave Sites in China

(Credit: T. Harrison)

Pleistocene cave sites in the karst region of southern China have long produced a rich diversity of fossil monkeys and apes.  These include the extinct giant ape, Gigantopithecus, an undescribed species of fossil ape, Pongo, and Nomascus.  Recent fieldwork by a team of paleontologists from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) in Beijing has led to the recovery of a wealth of new fossil hominoids from Chongzuo Ecological Park in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous region in southern China dating back to 2 million years ago. Terry Harrison is collaborating with colleagues in China and elsewhere on the study of these new discoveries.  The findings shed new light on the evolutionary history of apes in Asia and provide important new information on how these primate communities responded to the major environmental upheavals of the Pleistocene and the arrival of humans.

Selected recent publications

Zhang, Y. & Harrison, T. 2017. Gigantopithecus blacki: A giant ape from the Pleistocene of Asia revisited. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 162, Supplement S63: 153-177.

Harrison, T. 2016. The fossil record and evolutionary history of hylobatids. In Reichard, U.H., Hirohisa, H., Barelli, C. (Eds.), Evolution of Gibbons and Siamang: Phylogeny, Morphology, and Cognition, pp. 91-110.  Springer, New York.

Zhang, Y., Jin, C., Kono, R.T., Harrison, T., & Wang, W. 2016. A fourth mandible and associated dental remains of Gigantopithecus blacki from the Early Pleistocene Yanliang Cave, Fusui, Guangxi, South China.  Historical Biology 28: 95-104.

Ortiz, A., Pilbrow, V., Villamil, C.I., Korsgaard, J.G., Bailey, S.E., & Harrison, T. 2015. The taxonomic and phylogenetic affinities of Bunopithecus sericus, a fossil hylobatid from the Pleistocene of China.  PLoS One e0131206: 1-17.

Zhang, Y., Kono, R.T., Wang, W., Harrison, T., Takai, M., Ciochon, R.L., & Jin, C. 2015. Evolutionary trend in dental size in Gigantopithecus blacki revisited.  Journal of Human Evolution 83: 91-100.

Harrison, T., Jin, C., Zhang, Y., Wang, Y., & Zhu, M. 2014. Fossil Pongo from the Early Pleistocene Gigantopithecus fauna of Chongzuo, Guangxi, southern China.  Quaternary International 354: 59-67.

Jin, C., Wang, Y., Deng, C., Harrison, T., Qin, D., Pan, W., Zhang, Y., Zhu, M., & Yan, Y. 2014. Chronological sequence of the early Pleistocene Gigantopithecus faunas from cave sites in the Chongzuo, Zuojiang River area, South China. Quaternary International 354: 4-14.

Zhang, Y., Kono, R.T., Jin, C., Wang, W., & Harrison, T. 2014. Possible change in dental morphology in Gigantopithecus blacki just prior to its extinction: Evidence from the upper premolar enamel-dentine junction.  Journal of Human Evolution 75: 166-171.