Sivapithecus alpani

Sivapithecus alpani
Temporal occurrence
	Miocene
	approx. 10 million years
Locations
	Ankara Province ( Turkey );
Systematics
	Old World Monkey (Catarrhini)
	Human (Hominoidea)
	Apes (Hominidae)
	Ponginae
	Sivapithecus
	Sivapithecus alpani
Scientific name
	Sivapithecus alpani
	Tekkaya , 1974

Sivapithecus alpani is an extinct species of primates in the genus Sivapithecus that was foundin Turkey during the late Miocene . A lower jaw discoverednear the city of Çandır (Kalecik, province of Ankara ), which was identified in the first description of Sivapithecus alpani in 1974 for this species, comes from a layer of earth whose age is based on index fossils in the Tortonium - around the time ago 10 million years ago - has been dated.

Naming

Sivapithecus is an artificial word . The name of the genus Sivapithecus was named after the Hindu god Shiva , since the first finds associated with it were discovered in India . Reference is also made to the Greek word πίθηκος (in ancient Greek pronounced píthēkos : "monkey"). The epithet alpani honors Sadrettin Alpan, the former General Director of the Turkish MTA (Maden ve Tetkik Arama Genel Müdürlüğü, Mineral Research & Exploration General Directorate). Sivapithecus alpani therefore means "Alpanic monkey of the god Shiva".

Initial description

The holotype of Sivapithecus alpani was identified in the first description by İbrahim Tekkaya as a completely preserved, but broken in two and only partially dentate lower jaw , which was recovered in 1973 from the Hırsızderesi site. The left side of the front jaw tooth (premolar) P3, the large molar tooth (molar) M1 to M3 and the right side P4 to M3 were present in situ ; Incisors and canines had broken off, but their roots were preserved. The dentition was ascribed partly ape-like , partly human-like characteristics ("both anthropoid and Homo characteristics"), the combination of characteristics differing from both Ankarapithecus meteai (formerly: Sivapithecus meteai ) and from Dryopithecus fontani , Oreopithecus bambolii and similarly old fossils ; the roots of the incisors were ascribed a great resemblance to those of Paranthropus ("very similar to Paranthropus ").

Tribal classification

The scientific status of the species is unclear: The lower jaw (the type specimen of the species) described in 1974 as belonging to Sivapithecus alpani was identified as early as 1976 by the author of the first description of the species Ramapithecus wickeri , which later became Kenyapithecus wickeri .

Web links

Image of the lower jaw of Sivapithecus alpani on the web server of the University of California (Berkeley), The Human Evolution Research Center

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b İbrahim Tekkaya: A new species of Tortonian anthropoid (Primates, Mammalia) from Anatolia. In: Bulletin of the Mineral Research and Exploration Institute of Turkey. Volume 83, 1974, pp. 148-165
↑ Winfried Henke : To the origin of the Hominidae. In: Natural Sciences. Volume 68, No. 8, 1981, p. 410, doi : 10.1007 / BF01079708 .
↑ Bernard Wood: Human origins: fossil evidence and current problems of analysis and interpretation. In: Richard John Harrison, Robert Lewis Holmes: Progress in anatomy. Vol. 1: Mammals - Anatomy. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1981, p. 235

[Tekkaya74-1] İbrahim Tekkaya: A new species of Tortonian anthropoid (Primates, Mammalia) from Anatolia. In: Bulletin of the Mineral Research and Exploration Institute of Turkey. Volume 83, 1974, pp. 148-165

[2] Winfried Henke : To the origin of the Hominidae. In: Natural Sciences. Volume 68, No. 8, 1981, p. 410, doi : 10.1007 / BF01079708 .

[3] Bernard Wood: Human origins: fossil evidence and current problems of analysis and interpretation. In: Richard John Harrison, Robert Lewis Holmes: Progress in anatomy. Vol. 1: Mammals - Anatomy. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1981, p. 235