''Ekembo nyanzae'', originally classed as a species of '' Proconsul'', is a species of

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

primate Primates are a diverse order (biology), order of mammals. They are divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include the Tarsiiformes, tarsiers and ...

first discovered by Louis Leakey on Rusinga Island in 1942, which he published in ''Nature'' in 1943. It is also known by the name ''Dryopithecus africanus''. A joint publication of Wilfrid Le Gros Clark and Louis Leakey in 1951, "The Miocene Hominoidea of East Africa", first defines ''Proconsul nyanzae''. In 1965 Simons and Pilbeam replaced ''Proconsul'' with ''Dryopithecus'', using the same species names. In 1967, Louis defined ''

Kenyapithecus africanus ''Ekembo nyanzae'', originally classed as a species of ''Proconsul'', is a species of fossil primate first discovered by Louis Leakey on Rusinga Island in 1942, which he published in ''Nature'' in 1943. It is also known by the name ''Dryopithecus ...

'' on seven fossils from Rusinga Island. He saw it as an ancestor of ''wickeri'' and also of man, with a date of 20 mya in the middle

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recent" ...

. Another fossil found by the VanCouverings on Rusinga in 1967 seemed to confirm ''africanus''. In 1969 Simons and Pilbeam moved ''Kenyapithecus africanus'' into ''Dryopithecus nyanzae''. By 1978 the genus had recovered from the Dryopithecine event and was back to ''Proconsul''. In that year Andrews moved Clark & Leakey's 1951 ''Sivapithecus africanus'' into ''Proconsul nyanzae''. In 2015, it was moved into the new genus ''

Ekembo ''Ekembo'' is an early ape (hominoid) genus found in 17- to 20-million-year-old sediments from the Miocene epoch. Specimens have been found at sites around the ancient Kisingiri volcano in Kenya on Rusinga Island and Mfangano Island in Lake Vict ...

''. A more recent discovery by Ward ''et al.'' in 1999 and reclassification splits ''Kenyapithecus africanus'' away again and lumps it with ''Equatorius africanus'', which would move it to the subfamily Afropithecinae with '' Afropithecus turkanensis''. As ''Ekembo'', '' Kenyapithecus'' may not be in the same clade as apes and humans, but as the older '' Equatorius'', it may be.

Morphology

''Ekembo nyanzae'' had a dental formula of 2:1:2:3 on both the upper and lower jaw. The upper premolars of ''E. nyanzae'' were large. This species had a relatively thick enamel on the molars. The mandible of this

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

was relatively robust. ''E. nyanzae'' had an average body mass of about .

Range

''E. nyanzae'' lived on the

continent A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in area to smallest, these seven ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and the fossils were found in areas that suggest it lived in a dry, open woodland

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

References

External links

* The History Files
Hominid Chronology
*http://members.tripod.com/cacajao/equatorius_africanus.html

Mikko's Phylogeny archive
Proconsul nyanzae
classification in the Taxonomicon site *
Partial skeleton of Proconsul nyanzae from Mfangano Island, Kenya
abstract of article by CV Ward in ''American Journal of Physical Anthropology'', Volume 90, Issue 1, Pages 77 – 111, shown on Wiley Interscience site. {{Taxonbar, from=Q2563949 Prehistoric apes Miocene primates of Africa Fossil taxa described in 1950

Morphology

Range

See also

References

External links