Although it seems clear that hominids originated on the African continent, research in recent years suggests that these first humansthey evolved from a group of primates of Asian origin.Now, the findings of several remains of teeth of an ancestral primate in Myanmar (Burma) confirm this theory.
Until the 1990s, the oldest fossils of candidate primates to be our first ancestors had been found in Egypt and were 30 million years old. Everything seemed to confirm that the evolution of our lineage had been gestated exclusively in Africa, and the hominoids were the first to leave the continent to spread to other lands.
However, in later excavations in China, Myanmar and other Asian regions, these theories were staggered, as remains of primates much older thanthey were dated between 37 and 45 million years. Scientists began to suspect that anthropoids arose in Asia and, a few million years later, set out on the journey to Africa. However, the nexus was missing: knowing when and how our ancestors took this step.
Now, a study published inPNASreveals the discovery of several teeth found in Myanmar that are about 38 million years old and belonged to an ancestral primate that they have namedAfrasia djijidae. What is interesting about these findings is that they are very similar inshape, size and ageto the remains of another fossil primate (Afrotarsius libycus) found in Libya. This similarity between fossil anthropoids from Asia and Africa “had never been verified”, reported the authors, from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History (Pennsylvania, USA).
Movements between the two continents
Furthermore, the analysis of the teeth indicates that Afrasia predated Afrotarsus , and suggests that this group arose in Asia and migrated between 37 and 39 million years ago to Africa. Other researchers agree that at that time there may have been a migration of various groups of primates, and possibly other mammals, to the African continent, where they would find better living conditions and an environment in which other carnivores did not exist.
Scientists are now faced with the exciting challenge of unraveling the comings and goings of our ancestors from one continent to another. “Reconstructing events like the colonization of Africa by our earliest ancestors is like solving a very complicated police case,” explained Christopher Beard, one of the authors. ” Afrasia might not be the first to take the plunge, but right now he’s the first suspect on our list.”
