Simiolus

Simiolus is an extinct genus of dendropithecid primates. It was described by Mary Leakey and Richard Leakey in 1987, and the type species is S. enjiessi, which existed during the Miocene of Kenya. The species epithet is a phonetic pun on the acronym NGS.[1] A new species, S. andrewsi, also from the middle Miocene of Kenya, was described by Terry Harrison in 2010.[2] In November 2018, scientists reported the discovery of the smallest known ape, Simiolus minutus, which weighed approximately eight pounds, and lived about 12.5 million years ago in Kenya in East Africa.[3][4]

Simiolus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Suborder: Haplorhini
Infraorder: Simiiformes
Family: †Dendropithecidae
Genus: †Simiolus
Leakey & Leakey, 1987

Species
  • Simiolus enjiessi Leakey & Leakey, 1987
  • Simiolus leakeyorum [lower-alpha 1]
  • Simiolus cheptumoae Pickford & Kunimatsu, 2005
  • Simiolus andrewsi Harrison, 2010
  • Simiolus minutus Rossie & Hill, 2018

Notes
  1. Based on new material found on Maboko Island, Kenya, it has been argued[5][6] that the taxon presently referred to as Micropithecus leakeyorum should be transferred to the genus Simiolus. However, a full analysis of this material has not yet been published. As such, most of the published material that would belong to Simiolus leakeyorum is referred to in the literature as Micropithecus leakeyorum[2]

References
  1. Page 182, The ape in the tree: an intellectual & natural history of Proconsul, by Alan Walker, Pat Shipman. Harvard University Press, 2005. ISBN 0674016750/ISBN 9780674016750
  2. Harrison, Terry (2010). "Chapter 24: Dendropithecoidea, Proconsuloidea, and Hominoidea (Catarrhini, Primates)". In Werdelin, L.; Sanders, W.J. Cenozoic Mammals of Africa. University of California Press. pp. 429–469. ISBN 978-0-520-25721-4.
  3. St. Fleur, Nicholas (5 November 2018). "Tiniest Ape Ever Discovered Hints at the Rise of the Monkeys - The newly identified extinct primate weighed slightly less than an average house cat". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  4. James B. Rossie; Andrew Hill (2018). "A new species of Simiolus from the middle Miocene of the Tugen Hills, Kenya". Journal of Human Evolution. 125: 50–58. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.09.002. PMID 30502897.
  5. Benefit, B. R. (1991). "The taxonomic status of Maboko small apes". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 34 (suppl. 12): 50–51. doi:10.1002/ajpa.1330340505.
  6. Gitau, S. N.; Benefit, B. R. (1995). "New evidence concerning the facial morphology of Simiolus leakeyorum from Maboko Island". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 38 (suppl. 20): 99. doi:10.1002/ajpa.1330380505.


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