Micropithecus

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Micropithecus
Temporal occurrence
early Miocene
19.0 to 15.0 million years
Locations
Systematics
Primates (Primates)
Dry- nosed primates (Haplorrhini)
Monkey (anthropoidea)
Old World Monkey (Catarrhini)
Human (Hominoidea)
Micropithecus
Scientific name
Micropithecus
Fleagle & Simons , 1978
species

Micropithecus is an extinct genus of primates thatoccurredin East Africa around 19 to 15 million years ago - during the early Miocene . The genus and its type , Micropithecus clarki , were first described scientifically in 1978.

Naming

Micropithecus is an artificial word . The name of the genus is derived from the Greek words μικρός ( ancient Greek spoken mikrós , "small") and πίθηκος (pronounced píthēkos , "monkey"). Micropithecus means "little monkey" and refers to the fact that the fossils of this genus are among the smallest fossil or recent species of the human primates ever discovered .

Initial description

The holotype of the genus and also of the type Micropithecus clarki is an upper jaw around 19 to 17 million years old with largely preserved palate bones and remains of facial bones (archive number UMP 64-02; UMP = Uganda Museum of Paleontology). In the upper jaw, three large left molars (M1 - M3) as well as a premolar and three large molars (M1 - M3) on the right side have been preserved . In addition, around 20 individually found teeth, a lower jaw fragment and fragments of a skull from the same site were added as paratypes to the holotype .

In the first description , Micropithecus was delimited from Limnopithecus , Dendropithecus , Dryopithecus and Pliopithecus, in particular due to the characteristics of its molars and its short stature . Furthermore, in the first description of the genus and type species it was pointed out that the morphology of the face of these fossil finds most closely resembles the gibbons living today . The head-trunk length corresponds roughly to the white- forehead capuchin monkey, which is only around 35 centimeters tall, and is slightly smaller than that of the fossil Aeolopithecus chirobates (Simons, 1965).

More finds

In 1989 a second species was assigned to the genus Micropithecus , Micropithecus leakeyorum . These are finds from the Maboko Main excavation site on Maboko Island in Lake Victoria , Kenya , which are 16 to 15 million years old. This species was placed in the genus Micropithecus on the basis of several lower jaw fragments with preserved large molar teeth and on the basis of the characteristics of these teeth , but at the same time also differentiated from the type species because of the spatial and temporal distance.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ John G. Fleagle and Elwyn L. Simons : Micropithecus clarki, a small ape from the Miocene of Uganda. In: American Journal of Physical Anthropology. Volume 49, No. 4, 1978, pp. 427-440, doi: 10.1002 / ajpa.1330490402
  2. ^ Elwyn L. Simons: New Fossil Apes from Egypt and the Initial Differentiation of Hominoidea. In: Nature . Volume 205, 1965, pp. 135-139, doi: 10.1038 / 205135a0
  3. ^ Terry Harrison : A new species of Micropithecus from the middle Miocene of Kenya. In: Journal of Human Evolution . Volume 18, No. 6, 1989, pp. 537-557, doi: 10.1016 / 0047-2484 (89) 90017-1