Kenyapithecus wickeri
| Kenyapithecus wickeri | ||||||||||||
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| middle Miocene | ||||||||||||
| 14.0 million years | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Kenyapithecus wickeri | ||||||||||||
| Louis Leakey , 1961 | ||||||||||||
Kenyapithecus wickeri is an extinct species of primates in the genus Kenyapithecus that was foundin Kenya during the Middle Miocene . Fossils discoverednear Fort Ternan , 60 km east of Kisumu , which were identified in the first description of Kenyapithecus wickeri in 1961, come from a layer of earth whose age was initially determined using the potassium-argon method and using biostratigraphic analyzes dated to around 14 million years ago and was later confirmed by the 39 Ar- 40 Ar method .
Naming
Kenyapithecus is an artificial word . The name of the genus is derived from the location in Kenya ( English : Kenya) and from the Greek word πίθηκος ( pronounced píthēkos in ancient Greek : "monkey"). The epithet wickeri refers to the farmer Fred Wicker, on whose premises the fossils were discovered. Kenyapithecus wickeri therefore means "Wicker'scher Kenya monkey".
In 1959, Wicker pointed out to Louis Leakey layers that led to fossils and sent him random discoveries; a systematic excavation took place for the first time in April 1961. The excavation site is only a few kilometers east of Koru, where the first fossils of Proconsul africanus and Limnopithecus were discovered (a small primate from the Proconsulidae).
Initial description
As holotype belong together, dentulous were first described two upper jaw fragments and a lower jaw - Molar reported the same individual. Based on the tooth features - in particular the labial groove of a preserved canine - the find was recognized as being close to the ancestors of the great apes and distinguished from Sivapithecus . In 1967 Louis Leakey reported a recently discovered incisor from the same find layer of the holotype, which was "remarkably similar to that of Homo " and which differs greatly from the incisors of the genus Proconsul (especially Proconsul africanus and Proconsul nyanzae ).
Kenyapithecus wickeri is also the type of the genus Kenyapithecus . Some fossils, also assigned to the genus Kenyapithecus by Louis Leakey in 1967 , named Kenyapithecus africanus , were made in 1999 with more recent discoveries on Equatorius africanus .
The assignment of the species to a family in the human tree was expressly referred to in the first description by Louis Leakey as incertae sedis ("unclear"), and this is still true. At times the assignment of the finds to a separate genus was disputed; instead they were referred to as Ramapithecus wickeri , interpreted as being identical to Ramapithecus brevirostris or assigned to the genus Griphopithecus , which is mainly known from Turkey .
More finds
In 1977 tooth finds from the Paşalar excavation site ( Turkey ) were also attributed to Kenyapithecus wickeri . Other tooth finds from Paşalar were separated from Kenyapithecus wickeri in 2008 as Kenyapithecus kizili .
Habitat
The habitat was described as savannah-like based on fossils of other animal species (including ancestors of the antelopes and giraffes ) ; This is also indicated by the relatively thick enamel layers, from which it can be concluded that the food is relatively hard-fibred.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b L. SB Leakey : A new Lower Pliocene fossil primate from Kenya. In: The Annals & Magazine of Natural History. Volume 4, Series 13, 1961, pp. 689-696
- ↑ Pat Shipman et al .: The Fort Ternan hominoid site, Kenya: Geology, age, taphonomy and paleoecology. In: Journal of Human Evolution. Volume 10, No. 1, 1981, pp. 49-72, doi : 10.1016 / S0047-2484 (81) 80025-5
- ^ LSB Leakey: An Early Miocene Member of Hominidae. In: Nature . Volume 213, 1967, pp. 155-163, doi : 10.1038 / 213155a0
- ↑ Steve Ward, Barbara Brown, Andrew Hill, Jay Kelley, and Will Downs: Equatorius: A New Hominoid Genus from the Middle Miocene of Kenya. In: Science . Volume 285, No. 5432, 1999, pp. 1382-1386, doi : 10.1126 / science.285.5432.1382
- ^ A b Camilo J. Cela-Conde, Francisco José Ayala: Human Evolution. Trails from the past. Oxford University Press, 2007, pp. 64-67
- ^ Peter Andrews : Ramapithecus wickeri Mandible from Fort Ternan, Kenya. In: Nature . Volume 231, 1971, pp. 192-194, doi : 10.1038 / 231192a0
- ^ EL Simons, DR Pilbeam: Preliminary revision of the Dryopithecinae (Pongidae, Anthropoidea). In: Folia Primatologica. Volume 3, 1965, pp. 81-98; doi : 10.1159 / 000155026
- ^ Peter Andrews, Heinz Tobien: New Miocene locality in Turkey with evidence on the origin of Ramapithecus and Sivapithecus. In: Nature. Volume 268, 1977, pp. 699-701, doi : 10.1038 / 268699a0