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A fossil galagid (Primates: Galagidae) from the Pliocene site of Woranso-Mille, Ethiopia
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DOI：10.1016/j.jhevol.2026.103831.png)
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Abstract
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Two new fossil galagid specimens from the Pliocene sediments of Woranso-Mille in Ethiopia provide important evidence for documenting the taxonomic diversity and evolutionary history of Galagidae. The partial cranium (MKM-VP-1/140) and mandibular fragment (MKM-VP-1/414) from the Makah Mera (MKM) collecting locality are the first fossil galagids described from the Afar region of Ethiopia. Importantly, MKM-VP-1/140 represents the most complete galagid specimen known from the Plio-Pleistocene of Africa. Based on their dental morphology and overall size, the two specimens can be assigned to a single species. The Woranso-Mille galagid is distinguishable from all other taxa by its unique combination of craniodental features. These provide the basis for recognizing a new genus and species, Pliogalago makahmera gen. et sp. nov. This new taxon represents only the third Plio-Pleistocene galagid species described after ‘Galago’ howelli and Laetolia sadimanensis. Pliogalago shares specialized cranial features with Otolemur but retains a more plesiomorphic dental morphology more similar to that of Sciurocheirus. This combination of features provides firm evidence to support the inference that Pliogalago is the primitive sister taxon of Otolemur. As a consequence, the new taxon represents the first fossil galagid definitively linked to a crown lineage. Based on molecular evidence, it can be estimated that Otolemur and Sciurocheirus diverged at the start of the Late Miocene, with crown representatives of Otolemur emerging toward the end of the Miocene. Using these estimates, it can be extrapolated that the Pliogalago lineage diverged between 11 and 8 Ma. The occurrence of Pliogalago in Ethiopia during the Pliocene points to the divergence of a separate clade of large-bodied galagids that occupied a region far to the north of the current distribution of its sister taxon, Otolemur. This north-south geographic divide may reflect an adaptive response to different ecological conditions, with Pliogalago likely occupying drier and more open woodland-bushland habitats.
Keywords:
Pliogalago makahmera
Galagidae
Plio-Pleistocene
craniodental morphology
evolutionary history
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