Kamoyapithecus

Kamoyapithecus ('Kamoya' + Greek -pithekos “ape”) was a primate that lived in Africa during the late Oligocene period, about 24.2-27.5 million years ago.[1][2][3][4][5][6] First found in 1948 as part of a University of California, Berkeley expedition, it was at first thought to be under a form of Proconsul by C.T. Madden in 1980, but after a re-examination by Meave Leakey and associates later, the fossils were moved under a new genus Kamoyapithecus, named after the renowned fossil finder Kamoya Kimeu. The genus is represented by only one species, K. hamiltoni.[4]

Kamoyapithecus
Temporal range: Oligocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Suborder: Haplorhini
Infraorder: Simiiformes
Parvorder: Catarrhini
Family: incertae sedis
Genus: †Kamoyapithecus
M.G. Leakey et al., 1995
Type species
†Kamoyapithecus hamiltoni
Madden, 1980

Morphology

Kamoyapithecus is known exclusively by its teeth and jaws. The type specimen, KNM-LS 7, was a right maxillary jaw fragment found during the expedition in 1948. Through this fossil as well as more recent fragments of mandibles and teeth, it has been found that Kamoyapithecus had very large and robust anterior teeth. The incisors are found to be compressed on the sides, but expanded from top to bottom.

Its teeth also have been found through plane film X-ray to not be thickly enamelled. This suggests that Kamoyapithecus had more emphasis on foods that did not involve heavy wearing, such as soft fruits, nuts and seeds. This would have been well-placed in the Late-Oligocene in Africa, when forests covered a lot of the land.

Similar affinities with the jaw fragments have been seen with Afropithecus, Proconsul, and the Morotopithecus, but nothing definitive can be stated as to the relationship between these genera and Kamoyapithecus as the amount of fossil record is very limited. This variation of traits that are expressed within the fragments also makes it difficult to ascertain exactly where Kamoyapithecus fits in the evolution of humans.[4]

References
  1. Andrews, P.; Harrison, T. (2009). "The anatomy and systematic position of the early Miocene proconsulid from Meswa Bridge, Kenya". Journal of Human Evolution. 56 (5): 479–496. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2009.02.005. PMID 19394999.
  2. Boschetto, H.B.; Brown, F.H.; McDougall, I. (1992). "Stratigraphy of the Lothidok Range, northern Kenya, and K-Ar ages of its Miocene primates". Journal of Human Evolution. 22: 47–71. doi:10.1016/0047-2484(92)90029-9.
  3. Disotell, T. R.; Noviello, C. M.; Raaum, R. L.; Sterner, K. N.; Stewart, C. (2005). "Catarrhine primate divergence dates estimated from complete mitochondrial genomes: concordance with fossil and nuclear DNA evidence". Journal of Human Evolution. 48 (3): 237–257. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2004.11.007. PMID 15737392.
  4. Leakey, M.G.; Ungar, P.S.; Walker, A. (1995). "A new genus of large primate from the late Oligocene of Lothidok, Turkana District, Kenya". Journal of Human Evolution. 28 (6): 519–531. doi:10.1006/jhev.1995.1040.
  5. MacLatchy, L.; Young, N. M. (2004). "The phylogenetic position of Morotopithecus". Journal of Human Evolution. 46 (2): 163–184. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2003.11.002. PMID 14871561.
  6. Steiper, M. E.; Sukarna, T. Y.; Young, N. M. (2004). "Genomic data support the hominoid slowdown and an Early Oligocene estimate for the hominoid–cercopithecoid divergence". PNAS. 101 (49): 17021–17026. Bibcode:2004PNAS..10117021S. doi:10.1073/pnas.0407270101. PMC 535389. PMID 15572456.
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