A fourth mandible and associated dental remains of Gigantopithecus blacki from the Early Pleistocene Yanliang Cave, Fusui, Guangxi, South China

Abstract

Dentognathic remains of Gigantopithecus blacki from the newly discovered Early Pleistocene locality of Yanliang Cave, Guangxi, South China are described. These include an incomplete mandible, only the fourth discovered and the first known from a site other than Liucheng, as well as 25 isolated teeth. Comparisons of the Yanliang mandible show that the best preserved part of the right corpus is morphologically similar to the left side of the Liucheng Mandible III. In addition, the Yanliang mandible and the Liucheng Mandible III share a similar degree and pattern of wear on the premolars and molars. The partially resorbed alveolus for the right M₂ in the Yanliang mandible indicates antemortem tooth loss, which is the first record of its kind for Gigantopithecus blacki. Comparisons of the enamel–dentine junction morphology show that the isolated upper premolars from Yanliang are similar to those of Gigantopithecus blacki from Early Pleistocene sites, and differ from the more specialised form from the Middle Pleistocene Hejiang Cave. This supports the biochronological evidence that Yanliang Cave is Early Pleistocene in age.

Keywords::

• Gigantopithecus blacki
• hominoid
• Pleistocene
• antemortem tooth loss
• enamel–dentine junction

Acknowledgements

We thank Yemao Hou for arranging the CT scanning; Yihong Liu, Yuan Wang, Min Zhu and Yaling Yan for their hard work in the field; and Wenshu Sun for preparation of the fossil material. We extend our gratitude to Gareth Dyke, Eric Delson and one anonymous reviewer for their helpful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The research was supported by the Key Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (kzzd-ew-03), the National Science Fund for Talent Training in Basic Science [grant number J1210008], National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant numbers 41072013 and 41202017] and the Program of China Geological Survey [grant number 1212011220519].