Could Adam have been a descendant of some ape-like ancestor?

Well, Genesis tells us God formed Adam from the dust of the earth. And that can’t be a metaphor for “ape-like creature” because, after sin, God tells Adam that work will be hard until “you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust and to dust you shall return.” We don’t return to an ape-like creature when we die!

And Paul even mentions that we came from dust when he contrasts the corruption of Adam’s body with the resurrected body of Jesus.

Adam was a historical person just as described in Genesis.