Afropithecus
| Afropithecus | ||||||||||
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skull |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||
| early Miocene | ||||||||||
| 18 to 16 million years | ||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Afropithecus | ||||||||||
| Leakey & Leakey , 1986 | ||||||||||
| species | ||||||||||
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Afropithecus is an extinct genus of primates that was foundin East Africa during the early Miocene . According to the first description of the genus and type speciespublished in 1986, fossils discoveredon the shores of Lake Turkana in the north of Kenya comefrom sedimentary layers , the age of which wasdated to around 18 to 16 million yearsusing key fossils . The assignment of the genus to a certain family within the superfamily of the human species was described in the first description as "uncertain" (" incertae sedis ").
Naming
Afropithecus is an artificial word . The name of the genus is derived from the place where it was found in Africa and from the Greek word πίθηκος ( pronounced píthēkos in ancient Greek : "monkey"). The epithet of the only scientifically described species so far , Afropithecus turkanensis , refers to Lake Turkana. Afropithecus turkanensis consequently means "African monkey from Lake Turkana".
Initial description
In the first description by Richard Leakey and Meave Leakey, the facial skull KNM-WK 16999 of a presumably male individual was identified as the holotype of the genus and at the same time the type species Afropithecus turkanensis , which was found on the surface of the calodirr (3 ° 20 'N, during the excavation period 1985/86 ) 35 ° 40 'E) - a watercourse to the Kalakol River - had been recovered. In this fossil, the bones in the forehead, eyes, nose and dentate upper jaw were preserved. In the first description, the paratypes named , among other things, several lower jaw fragments and more than a dozen teeth and tooth fragments from individuals who were of different ages at the time of their death; The dentate lower jaw KNM-WK 16840 is particularly well preserved. Further finds from the Moruorot site confirmed the classification of the genus and species in the early Miocene. At the same site in 1985/86 the fossils related to Turkanapithecus were discovered. The location of the finds is the Kenyan National Museum (hence KNM) in Nairobi .
features
The individuals of the genus Afropithecus were relatively large animals with an elongated, narrow palate and - associated with this - a pronounced snout . Their height was similar to that of Proconsul major , to whom a weight of 60 to 80 kg is assigned; In 1988 further bone finds confirmed this body weight, which corresponds approximately to that of male chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ). The delimitation of the finds from Sivapithecus , Ramapithecus , Kenyapithecus , Rangwapithecus and Proconsul was mainly based on various features of the dentition. Since the fossils used for the first description already had differently developed teeth, it was later possible to estimate the time at which the teeth would erupt; According to these findings, the molar M1 broke through at the age of approx. 28.2 to 43.5 months, which is comparable to the time in chimpanzees living today (25.7 to 48.0 months).
Afropithecus turkanensis is considered to be an original species of the Hominoidea with relatively thick enamel , but which is comparable to other species of the Hominoidea of the Miocene. Since older species of Old World monkeys had thinner tooth enamel and therefore presumably ate predominantly as fruit-eaters , it is assumed that the species that lived in Africa around 17 million years ago had found new, harder food sources - for example leaves and other hard-fiber foods.
The fossils from Uganda named Morotopithecus in 1997 are so similar to Afropithecus that their status as a separate genus and species is controversial.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Richard Leakey , Meave Leakey : A new Miocene hominoid from Kenya. In: Nature . Volume 324, 1986, pp. 143-146, doi: 10.1038 / 324143a0
- ↑ a b Jay Kelley, Tanya M. Smith: Age at first molar emergence in early Miocene Afropithecus turkanensis and life-history evolution in the Hominoidea. In: Journal of Human Evolution. Volume 44, No. 3, 2003, pp. 307-329, doi: 10.1016 / S0047-2484 (03) 00005-8
- ↑ Richard Leakey, Meave Leakey and Alan Walker : Morphology of Afropithecus turkanensis from Kenya. In: American Journal of Physical Anthropology. Volume 76, No. 3, 1988, pp. 289-307, doi: 10.1002 / ajpa.1330760303
- ^ Tanya M. Smith et al .: Enamel thickness, microstructure and development in Afropithecus turkanensis. In: Journal of Human Evolution. Volume 44, No. 3, 2003, pp. 283-306, doi: 10.1016 / S0047-2484 (03) 00006-X