Otavipithecus

Otavipithecus namibiensis is an extinct species of ape from the Miocene of Namibia. The fossils were discovered at the Berg Aukas mines in the foothills of the Otavi mountains, hence the generic name. The species was described in 1992 by Glenn Conroy and colleagues, and was at the time the only non-hominin fossil ape known from southern Africa.[1] The fossils consist of part of the lower jawbone with molars, a partial frontal bone, a heavily damaged ulna, one vertebra and a partial finger bone.[2]

Otavipithecus
Temporal range: Miocene
Fossil jawbone of Otavipithecus namibiensis at the National Museum of Natural History, France
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Suborder: Haplorhini
Infraorder: Simiiformes
Family: Hominidae
Subfamily: †Dryopithecinae
Tribe: †Afropithecini
Genus: †Otavipithecus
Conroy et al 1992
Species:
†O. namibiensis
Binomial name
†Otavipithecus namibiensis
Conroy et al 1992

Otavipithecus is estimated to have weighed between 14 and 20 kg.[3] The unspecialised teeth have only a thin layer of enamel, implying a diet of soft vegetation such as fruit and young leaves.[3]

The phylogenetic position of Otavipithecus is not clear from the meagre fossils known to date. Alternative proposals have it branching close to the earlier Afropithecus of Kenya,[4] or being close to the common ancestor of modern African apes (humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas).[5][6]

References
  1. Conroy, Glenn C.; Pickford, Martin; Senut, Brigitte; Couvering, John Van; Mein, Pierre (1992). "Otavipithecus namibiensis, first Miocene hominoid from southern Africa". Nature. 356 (6365): 144–148. Bibcode:1992Natur.356..144C. doi:10.1038/356144a0. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 1545864.
  2. Harrison, T (2010). "Dendropithecoidea, Proconsuloidea and Hominoidea". In Werdelin, L.; Sanders, W. J (eds.). Cenozoic Mammals of Africa. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 429–469.
  3. Conroy, G. C (1997). Reconstructing human origins. New York: W. W. Norton & company.
  4. Singleton, M (2000). "The phylogenetic affinities of Otavipithecus namibiensis". Journal of Human Evolution. 38 (4): 537–573. doi:10.1006/jhev.1999.0369. PMID 10715196.
  5. Pickford, M.; Moyà-Solà, S.; Köhler, M (1997). "Phylogenetic implications of the first Middle Miocene hominoid frontal bone from Otavi, Namibia". Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences. 325: 459–466.
  6. Cartmill, M.; Smith, F. H (2009). The Human Lineage. New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell.
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