Pliobates

Pliobates cataloniae is a primate from 11.6 million years ago, during the Iberian Miocene.^[1][2][3] Originally described as a species of stem-ape that was found to be the sister taxon to gibbons and great apes like humans,^[1] it was subsequently reinterpreted as a non-ape catarrhine belonging to the group Crouzeliidae within the superfamily Pliopithecoidea on the basis of discovery of new dental remains with crouzeliid synapomorphies.^[4]

Pliobates Temporal range: 11.6 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Pliobates fossils and reconstruction
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Primates
Suborder:	Haplorhini
Infraorder:	Simiiformes
Family:	†Pliopithecidae
Subfamily:	†Crouzeliinae
Genus:	†Pliobates Alba et al. 2015[1]
Species:	†P. cataloniae
Binomial name
†Pliobates cataloniae Alba et al. 2015[1]

Pliobates mouthparts and teeth.

Mosaic characteristics

Its anatomy is gibbon-like; prior to this discovery, it was assumed that the ancestral ape bauplan was robust like Proconsul.^[5] This species has mosaic characteristics of primitive, monkey-like features and the more derived ape characteristics; however, even when originally described it wasn't interpreted as a direct ancestor of modern apes but rather a side-branch that retained the ancestral morphotype and was thus placed in its own family Pliobatidae.^[6] Its subsequent placement within Pliopithecoidea indicates that it was convergent with apes in elbow and wrist morphology.^[4]

Palaeobiology

Based on the morphology of its ulna, the methods of locomotion of Pliobates consisted of above-branch quadrupedalism and eclectic climbing, along with suspensory behaviours resembling those of modern spider monkeys.^[7]