Dispersal of Miocene Hominoids (and Pliopithecoids) from Africa to Eurasia in Light of Changing Tectonics and Climate

This chapter examines hypothesized dispersal events between Africa and Eurasia involving non-cercopithecoid catarrhines, particularly hominoid apes, and reviews the tectonic and climatic events that may have had a role in shaping them. All available evidence points to hominoid origins in Africa by the latest Oligocene, and the earliest evidence for apes outside of Africa in Eurasia occurs at ~17–16 Ma following a tectonic event at ~19 Ma that resulted in a landbridge between these continents through the Arabian Peninsula. Following their initial dispersal into Eurasia, the estimated number of subsequent dispersals between Africa, Asia, and Europe is dependent on the hypothesized phylogeny of these fossil apes. Here, we examined several recent phylogenetic hypotheses that suggest anywhere between one and four hominoid dispersal events between Africa and Eurasia, and a minimum of zero to two ape dispersals between Europe and Asia. The arrival of pongines, and possibly other apes, in Asia most likely occurred during or right after the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum (~17–15 Ma), and the extinction of many Asian taxa was probably driven in part by Himalayan tectonic uplift in the Late Miocene (~9–8 Ma), which changed climatic patterns and resulted in the loss of preferred hominoid rainforest habitat. Similarly, climate change in Europe resulting in the loss of preferred habitat almost certainly played a role in European ape extinction.