Age at first molar emergence in Lufengpithecus lufengensis and its implications for life-history evolution

Abstract

The late Miocene hominoid Lufengpithecus from Yunnan Province, China, is crucial for understanding hominoid evolution in Asia. Given that age at first permanent molar emergence is a key life-history trait in primates, the present study determined the age at death of the Lufengpithecus lufengensis juvenile PA868, which was in the process of erupting its first molar. Using a perikymata periodicity of 7–11 days, along with estimation of cusp formation time and the postnatal delay of crown mineralization, perikymata counts obtained from the permanent central incisor and canine germs indicate that the age at death of PA868 was 2.4–4.5 years based on the central incisor germ, and 2.5–4.7 years based on the canine germ. The age at the first molar emergence was actually slightly younger (by about 0.3 years), as demonstrated by tiny wear facets on this tooth, which indicate that gingival emergence had occurred sometime before death. The average age at first molar emergence of Lufengpithecus lufengensis PA868 is estimated to be 3.2–3.3 years, with a range of 2.1–4.4 years. In comparison to extant primates and other fossil hominoids, the life history of Lufengpithecus lufengensis is similar to that of extant great apes and the Miocene hominoids Afropithecus turkanensis and Sivapithecus parvada, as well as Plio-Pleistocene Australopithecus, and different from monkeys, gibbons, and modern humans.