Samburupithecus

Abstract: Hidemi Ishida: 40 Years of Footprints in Japanese Primatology and Paleoanthropology.- Hidemi Ishida: 40 Years of Footprints in Japanese Primatology and Paleoanthropology.- Fossil Hominoids and Paleoenvironments.- Seven Decades of East African Miocene Anthropoid Studies.- Evolution of the Vertebral Column in Miocene Hominoids and Plio-Pleistocene Hominids.- Terrestriality in a Middle Miocene Context: Victoriapithecus from Maboko, Kenya.- Late Cenozoic Mammalian Biostratigraphy And Faunal Change.- The Ages and Geological Backgrounds of Miocene Hominoids Nacholapithecus, Samburupithecus, and Orrorin from Kenya.- Functional Morphology.- Patterns of Vertical Climbing in Primates.- Functional Morphology of the Midcarpal Joint in Knuckle-Walkers and Terrestrial Quadrupeds.- Morphological Adaptation of Rat Femora to Different Mechanical Environments.- A Hallmark of Humankind: The Gluteus Maximus Muscle.- Primates Trained for Bipedal Locomotion as a Model for Studying the Evolution of Bipedal Locomotion.- Locomotor Energetics in Nonhuman Primates.- Computer Simulation of Bipedal Locomotion.- Theoretical Approaches.- Paleoenvironments, Paleoecology, Adaptations, and the Origins of Bipedalism in Hominidae.- Arboreal Origin of Bipedalism.- Neontological Perspectives on East African Middle and Late Miocene Anthropoidea.- The Prehominid Locomotion Reflected: Energetics, Muscles, and Generalized Bipeds.- Evolution of the Social Structure of Hominoids.- Are Human Beings Apes, or are Apes People too?.- Current Thoughts on Terrestrialization in African Apes and the Origin of Human Bipedalism.

Abstract: Introduction Among the more controversial hypotheses regarding hominoid evolutionary relationships is a Eurasian origin of the euhominoidea (Begun, 1997; Begun et al ., 1997). This hypothesis, while supported by or at least consistent with other analyses based on independent lines of evidence (Gebo et al ., 1997; McCrossin & Benefit, 1997; Stewart & Disotell, 1998), runs counter to most other recent proposals of hominoid evolutionary history (Andrews, 1992; Moya-Sola & Kohler, 1995; Moya-Sola et al ., 1999; Harrison & Rook, 1997; Ishida & Pickford, 1997; McCrossin & Benefit, 1997; Andrews & Bernor, 1999). A key aspect of the Eurasian origin hypothesis is the phyletic position of early and middle Miocene hominoids relative to the euhominoidea (see Figure 10.1). Begun, et al . (1997) investigated hominoid relationships using a data base consisting of 240 characters in 13 taxa. The results of this research indicate that Kenyapithecus is the sister taxon to the clade that includes all living hominoids and all Eurasian Miocene hominids (Begun et al ., 1997, p. 404, figure 1). Proconsul and Afropithecus are even further removed from this clade. As suggested elsewhere (Begun, 1996; Begun et al ., 1997; Stewart & Disotell, 1998; Heizmann & Begun, unpublished data) there are several palaeobiogeographic implications of this hypothesis. Euhominoids first appear, and may have originated in Eurasia following a single dispersal event from Africa towards the end of the early Miocene (Heizmann & Begun, unpublished data). All currently known fossil Eurasian hominoids are cladistically hominid, being more closely related to great apes and humans than to hylobatids (Figure 10.1 and Table 10.1).

Abstract: The Neogene volcano-sedimentary succession west of Baragoi and in the Samburu Hills, northern Kenya has yielded over 200 higher primate fossils, comprising the cercopithecoid Victoriapithecus and the hominoids, Nyanzapithecus, Kenyapithecus and Samburupithecus. K-Ar ages have been obtained from lavas and pumices intercalated with the sediments. The Aka Aiteputh Formation with Kenyapithecus and Nyanzapithecus is dated ca 15-14 Ma while the Namurungule Formation with Samburupithecus is ca 9.5 Ma.

Abstract: Samburupithecus, an extinct great ape from upper Miocene (9.5 Ma) deposits in Kenya, is compared with other fossil and extant hominoids. It possesses features which are derived in comparison with Proconsul and other Lower and Middle Miocene hominoids, but it has none of the derived features which characterize the Eurasian large apes. It possesses characters which indicate that its closest relationships lie with the AAH clade (extant African apes and man). Within this clade it is closest dentally to primitive hominids such as Praeanthropus.