Model answer & approach
- Taxonomic status of Ramapithecus in the light of Ramapithecus-Sivapithecus controversy (Answer in 150 words)
Introduction
Ramapithecus was for two decades the earliest hominin. It is now a junior synonym of Sivapithecus.
Body
1. The claim: G. E. Lewis named the genus in 1934 from a Haritalyangar maxilla, and Simons and Pilbeam revived it in 1965 as a hominin on an arcuate palate, a short face, thick molar enamel and reduced canines — a heavy-chewing ape of about fourteen million years ago.
2. The evidence against: Sarich and Wilson's immunological clock in 1967 placed the human-ape split near five million years, leaving no room for it. Fuller jaws proved the palate V-shaped, and thick enamel proved widespread among Miocene apes and a correlate of hard-object feeding.
3. The status now: GSP 15000, the Sivapithecus face from the Potwar plateau published in 1982, showed a narrow interorbital region, oval orbits and a concave profile — orangutan characters — and the Ramapithecus material falls within that range, probably as the smaller female form.
Conclusion
It is a pongine on or near the orangutan line, not our ancestor. Teeth alone cannot settle phylogeny.
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