Eocene anthropoids of Pondaung (Pondaungia and Amphipithecus)
Antropoides del Eoceno de Pondaung (Pondaungia y Amphipithecus)
- Date
- 1927 · confidence high
- Place
- Pondaung Formation, Magway Region, Myanmar
- Credited to
- Guy Pilgrim and Edwin Colbert
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Fossils about 37-40 million years old of primate jaws and teeth, described from 1927 and attributed to anthropoids. They placed the origin of the ape and monkey branch leading to humans in Asia.
Pilgrim described Pondaungia in 1927 and Colbert described Amphipithecus in 1937; whether they are anthropoids or adapiforms is debated. The evidence is fragmentary, and an African origin for anthropoids gained ground after Fayum finds.
What it led to
- hypothesis of an Asian origin for anthropoids
- later discoveries of Eosimias and Bahinia in China and Myanmar
- debate over an African or Asian origin for apes