Topic
Kenyapithecus
About: Kenyapithecus is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 68 publications have been published within this topic receiving 3228 citations.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
TL;DR: The results show that identifiable Eurasian kenyapithecins (Griphopithecus and Kenyapithecus) are much younger than previously thought, which casts serious doubts on the attribution of the hominoid tooth from Engelswies, and is consistent with an alternative scenario, according to which the Eurasian pongines and African hominines might have independently evolved in their respective continents from similar kenyAPithecin ancestors.
Abstract: Extant apes (Primates: Hominoidea) are the relics of a group that was much more diverse in the past. They originated in Africa around the Oligocene/Miocene boundary, but by the beginning of the Middle Miocene they expanded their range into Eurasia, where they experienced a far-reaching evolutionary radiation. A Eurasian origin of the great ape and human clade (Hominidae) has been favored by several authors, but the assessment of this hypothesis has been hampered by the lack of accurate datings for many Western Eurasian hominoids. Here we provide an updated chronology that incorporates recently discovered Iberian taxa and further reevaluates the age of many previously known sites on the basis of local biostratigraphic scales and magnetostratigraphic data. Our results show that identifiable Eurasian kenyapithecins (Griphopithecus and Kenyapithecus) are much younger than previously thought (ca. 14 Ma instead of 16 Ma), which casts serious doubts on the attribution of the hominoid tooth from Engelswies (16.3–16.5 Ma) to cf. Griphopithecus. This evidence is further consistent with an alternative scenario, according to which the Eurasian pongines and African hominines might have independently evolved in their respective continents from similar kenyapithecin ancestors, resulting from an early Middle Miocene intercontinental range extension followed by vicariance. This hypothesis, which would imply an independent origin of orthogrady in pongines and hominines, deserves further testing by accurately inferring the phylogenetic position of European dryopithecins, which might be stem pongines rather than stem hominines.
212 citations
TL;DR: The Tugen Hills specimen represents a new genus, which also incorporates all material previously referable to Kenyapithecus africanus, which is a late member of the stem hominoid radiation in the East African Miocene.
Abstract: A partial hominoid skeleton just older than 15 million years from sediments in the Tugen Hills of north central Kenya mandates a revision of the hominoid genus Kenyapithecus, a possible early member of the great ape-human clade. The Tugen Hills specimen represents a new genus, which also incorporates all material previously referable to Kenyapithecus africanus. The new taxon is derived with respect to earlier Miocene hominoids but is primitive with respect to the younger species Kenyapithecus wickeri and therefore is a late member of the stem hominoid radiation in the East African Miocene.
165 citations
1 Jan 1983
TL;DR: Johanson et al. as mentioned in this paper showed that the presence of a hominoid with thick enamel and robust maxillae at Fort Ternan seemed to provide the oldest evidence of hominids.
Abstract: The contact of the Afro-Arabian Plate with Eurasia around 17 million years ago (m.y.a.) is associated with profound changes in Miocene faunal communities. At or about this time, a hominoid appeared in East Africa that was anatomically quite different from the Proconsul species complex that had been endemic there for over 6 million years. These differences involved elements of occlusal design, thickness of molar enamel caps, and gnathic buttressing, which showed a general increase in robusticity. By the mid 1970s, this combination of features had come to be regarded as exclusively characteristic of australopithecines or their immediate ancestors. Thus the presence of a hominoid with thick enamel and robust maxillae at Fort Ternan seemed to provide the oldest evidence of hominids (Simons, 1968; Andrews and Tekkaya, 1976; Simons and Pilbeam, 1978). The later discovery and diagnosis of Australopithecus afarensis from Pliocene deposits in Ethiopia and Tanzania (Johanson et al., 1978; Johanson and White, 1979) tended to further strengthen the argument that an animal like Ramapithecus from East Africa and Indo-Pakistan was ancestral to the earliest undoubted hominids.
124 citations
TL;DR: It is suggested that Afropithecus may have affinities with Heliopithecus, Kenyapithecus and the large hominoid from Moroto and Napak, although it is noted that the comparative material is limited in the number of common anatomical parts preserved.
Abstract: Forty-six specimens of a large Miocene hominoid, Afropithecus turkanensis, recently recovered from northern Kenya preserve many morphological details that are described. The specimens include cranial, mandibular, and postcranial parts. They are compared briefly with other Miocene hominoids. It is suggested that Afropithecus may have affinities with Heliopithecus, Kenyapithecus, and the large hominoid from Moroto and Napak, although it is noted that the comparative material is limited in the number of common anatomical parts preserved.
124 citations
TL;DR: Its distinctive body proportions suggest that N. kerioi was more derived for forelimb dominated arboreal activities than P. nyanzae and P. heseloni, and it seems necessary to posit parallel evolution of cranio-dental and/or postcranial features in fossil and living apes.
120 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 1 |
| 2011 | 1 |
| 2010 | 1 |
| 2009 | 1 |
| 2008 | 3 |
| 2005 | 1 |