Proconsul still considered likely last common ancestor of human, chimp, gorilla?

[Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus]

I was leafing through an issue Science in the doctor’s waiting room the other day, and came upon a review of a book about the early proto-ape Proconsul. In passing, it mentioned that this creature was considered a likely last common ancestor of humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas. This is more or less in agreement with the generally held wisdom of about 40 years ago and earlier, which was that the line leading to humans split off from the “apes” perhaps as much as 25 million years ago, and that all existing “apes”, including even gibbons, are more closely related to each other than any of them are to humans. It’s also consistent with the notion of an “ape” clade which excludes humans.

I thought that view was long since out of favor. What with genetic analysis and fossil finds suggesting a much more recent human-chimpanzee split, how can that be when Proconsul lived during the Miocene? Have there been later Proconsul discoveries?

[Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor]

How old was that issue of Science?

Mags in waiting rooms have been known to fossilize…

[Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus]

@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor

How old was that issue of Science?

Mags in waiting rooms have been known to fossilize…

Good question, but it was from within the last year or so.

Surely I wouldn’t find a 39-year-year old magazine in a waiting room, would I?

[AHunter3]

I thought that subsequent investigations determined that proconsuls and other [IR:=“http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12423b.htm”]primates were actually the common ancestors of the Catholic Church!

[Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus]

@AHunter3

I thought that subsequent investigations determined that proconsuls and other [IR:=“http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12423b.htm”]primates were actually the common ancestors of the Catholic Church!

Yes, and Roman Republic officials too…but let’s try to keep this on track.

[Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor]

@Spectre of Pithecanthropus

Good question, but it was from within the last year or so.

Surely I wouldn’t find a 39-year-year old magazine in a waiting room, would I?

Around 68, I visited my pediatrician, & found a National Geographic from 52.

[mkl12]

@Spectre of Pithecanthropus

I was leafing through an issue Science in the doctor’s waiting room the other day, and came upon a review of a book about the early proto-ape Proconsul. In passing, it mentioned that this creature was considered a likely last common ancestor of humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas. This is more or less in agreement with the generally held wisdom of about 40 years ago and earlier, which was that the line leading to humans split off from the “apes” perhaps as much as 25 million years ago, and that all existing “apes”, including even gibbons, are more closely related to each other than any of them are to humans. It’s also consistent with the notion of an “ape” clade which excludes humans.

I thought that view was long since out of favor. What with genetic analysis and fossil finds suggesting a much more recent human-chimpanzee split, how can that be when Proconsul lived during the Miocene? Have there been later Proconsul discoveries?

Proconsul lived in a time before the apes living today split into different lines, so it was a common ancestor of today’s apes, but not the last one. There are different last common ancestors depending on which pair of ape species you pick.

Actually, Proconsul probably wasn’t an ancestor of today’s apes at all. That’s because there are only very few ape fossils from that time, and it would be highly unlikely that we found the one of probably many ape species living then, that is our ancestor.