Name:
Afropithecus
(African ape).
Phonetic: Af-roe-pif-e-cus.
Named By: Richard Leakey & Meave Leakey
- 1986.
Classification: Chordata, Mammalia, Primates,
Hominoidea, Proconsulidae, Afropithecinae.
Species: A. turkanensis (type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Around 1.5 meters.
Known locations: Kenya.
Time period: Burdigalian of the Miocene.
Fossil representation: Multiple specimens of over
45 individuals, although usually of fragmentary remains.
Afropithecus
is one of the better known primates of Miocene era Africa and the
current fossils for this primate suggest that it was similar to the
even more numerous Proconsul.
However despite a body similarity to
Proconsul, Afropithecus is
thought to have had a
head more like
Aegyptopithecus (which may actually be Propliopithecus)
and teeth
similar to Heliopithecus,
the latter of which has actually been
considered by some to be a synonym of Afropithecus.
Most
of the study done about Afropithecus has been about
its teeth,
particularly the thickness of the tooth enamel. Enamel thickness is
seen to vary considerably over different parts of the teeth, but
generally Afropithecus is regarded as having thick
enamel. Since
Afropithecus predates the previous oldest known
thick enamelled
primate, Kenyapithecus,
it is now regarded as the oldest known
primate to have this feature. Combined with the primitive features of
the face, Afropithecus is thought to have had a
diet composed of
mostly hard fruits.
The
species name of A. turkanensis means ‘from
Turkana’, a
reference to Lake Turkana where the first Afropithecus
remains were
discovered in 1986.
Further reading
- Morphology of Afropithecus turkanensis from
Kenya. - American Journal
Physical Anthropology 76 (3): 289–307. - R. E. Leakey, M. G. Leakey
& Dr. A. C. Walker - 1988.
- Similarities in Aegyptopithecus and Afropithecus
Facial Morphology. -
Folia Primatologica. 56 (2): 65–71. - M. G. Leakey, R. E. Leakey, J. T.
Richtsmeier, E. L. Simons & A. C. Walker - 1991.
- Age at first molar emergence in early Miocene Afropithecus
turkanensis and life-history evolution in the Hominoidea. -
Journal
Human Evolution 44 (3): 307–29. - J. Kelley & T. M. Smith -
2003.
- Enamel thickness, microstructure and development in Afropithecus
turkanensis. - Journal Human Evolution 44 (3): 283–306. - T.
M. Smith,
L. B. Martin & M. G. Leakey - 2003.
- Dental metric comparisons of Morotopithecus and Afropithecus:
implications for the validity of the genus Morotopithecus.
- Journal
Human Evolution 51 (5): 506–12. - B. A. Patel & A. Grossman -
2006.
- Re-evaluating the diets of Morotopithecus bishopi
and Afropithecus
turkanensis: An anterior dentognathic perspective". Journal
of Human
Evolution. 112: 1–14. - Andrew S. Deane - 2017.
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