Kenyapithecus wickeri

Taxobox
name = "Kenyapithecus wickeri"
fossil_range = middle Miocene

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image_width = 250px
image_caption = "Kenyapithecus wickeri" fossils, Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, Paris
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Primates
superfamilia = Hominoidea
familia = Hominidae [ Ward, S.C. and Duren, D. L. (2002) "Middle and Late Miocene African Hominoids". In Hartwig, W.C. ed. The Primate Fossil Record. Cambridge University Press ]
subfamilia = †Kenaypithecinae
genus = †"Kenyapithecus"
species = "K. wickeri"
binomial = †"Kenyapithecus wickeri"
binomial_authority = Leakey, 1962

"Kenyapithecus wickeri" was a fossil ape discovered by Louis Leakey in 1961 at a site called Fort Ternan in Kenya. The upper jaw and teeth were dated to 14 million years ago. One theory states that "Kenyapithecus" may be the common ancestor of all the great apes. More recent investigations suggest "Kenyapithecus" is more primitive than that and is only slightly more modern than when "Proconsul" is considered to be an ape.

Evidence suggests that "Kenyapithecus wickeri" was one of the species that started a radiation of apes out of Africa.

Morphology

Impressed by "Kenyapithecus"'s modern-looking teeth, Leakey declared "Kenyapithecus" to be "a very early ancestor of man himself." (Science August 27 1999, Carl Zimmer)

"Kenyapithecus" possessed craniodental adaptations for hard object feeding including thicker molar enamel, and a large mandible, large premolars and upper incisors that are similar to those seen in living pitheciine monkeys [ Fleagle, J. G. (1999) Primate Adaptation and Evolution. Elsevier Academic Press ] "Kenyapithecus" also possessed macaque-like limbs adapted for a knuckle-walking mode of semi-terrestrial locomotion [ McCrossin ML,Benefit, BR Gitau, SN Palmer, AK Blue, KT. (1998) Fossil evidence for the origins of terrestriality among Old World higher primates. Primate locomotion: recent advances. New York: Plenum Press. p 353-396 ] This could show that as hominins evolved, they passed through a knuckle-walking phase.

"Kenyapithecus wickeri" has very distinct features, especially details in the canine teeth and is similar to modern apes.

References

External links

*http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/08/990831080717.htm
*http://www.nmsu.edu/~anthro/monte_mccrossin.htm
*http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Atrium/1381/hominids1.html
*http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/~reffland/anthropology/anthro2003/origins/primates/primate_evol/miocene.html
*http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:VnLGT_wKX8gJ:rcp.missouri.edu/carolward/pdfs/quotezimmer.doc+Kenyapithecus+wickeri&hl=en
* [http://www.fmnh.helsinki.fi/users/haaramo/Metazoa/Deuterostoma/Chordata/Synapsida/Eutheria/Primates/Hominoidea/hominoidea.htm Mikko's Phylogeny archive]