A NEW LATE EOCENE ANTHROPOID PRIMATE FROM THAILAND

The fossil record of anthropoid primates from the Middle Eocene of Sou th Asia is so far restricted to two genera (Pondaungia cotteri Pilgrim , 1937 and Amphipithecus mogaungensis Colbert, 1937 from the Eocene Po ndaung deposits of Burma) whose anthropoid status and phylogenetic pos ition have long been under debate(1-6) because they represent the olde st highly derived fossil primates of anthropoid grade. Moreover, sever al new African taxa(7-10), some of which are even older, have been rec ently included in the suborder Anthropoidea, suggesting an African ori gin for this group. Conversely, new fossil primates recently discovere d in China (Eosimias) have been related to the most primitive represen tatives of Anthropoidea, alternatively suggesting an Asian origin and a probable Asian radiation centre(11). We report here the discovery of a new anthropoid from the Thai Late Eocene locality of Krabi(12,13), which displays several additional anthropoid characters with regard to those of the Eocene Burmese genera. This species, which is about the size of the Fayum Aegyptopithecus, can be related to the Burmese forms , and it further provides strong additional evidence for a southeast A sian evolutionary centre for anthropoids.