A new Late Miocene great ape from Kenya and its implications for the origins of African great apes and humans

@article{citeulike:1994369, abstract = {Extant African great apes and humans are thought to have diverged from each other in the Late Miocene. However, few hominoid fossils are known from Africa during this period. Here we describe a new genus of great ape (Nakalipithecus nakayamai gen. et sp. nov.) recently discovered from the early Late Miocene of Nakali, Kenya. The new genus resembles Ouranopithecus macedoniensis (9.68.7 Ma, Greece) in size and some features but retains less specialized characters, such as less inflated cusps and better-developed cingula on cheek teeth, and it was recovered from a slightly older age (9.99.8 Ma). Although the affinity of Ouranopithecus to the extant African apes and humans has often been inferred, the former is known only from southeastern Europe. The discovery of N. nakayamai in East Africa, therefore, provides new evidence on the origins of African great apes and humans. N. nakayamai could be close to the last common ancestor of the extant African apes and humans. In addition, the associated primate fauna from Nakali shows that hominoids and other non-cercopithecoid catarrhines retained higher diversity into the early Late Miocene in East Africa than previously recognized. 10.1073/pnas.0706190104}, author = {Kunimatsu, Yutaka and Nakatsukasa, Masato and Sawada, Yoshihiro and Sakai, Tetsuya and Hyodo, Masayuki and Hyodo, Hironobu and Itaya, Tetsumaru and Nakaya, Hideo and Saegusa, Haruo and Mazurier, Arnaud and Saneyoshi, Mototaka and Tsujikawa, Hiroshi and Yamamoto, Ayumi and Mbua, Emma }, citeulike-article-id = {1994369}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0706190104}, journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences}, keywords = {evolution, human}, month = {November}, pages = {0706190104+}, posted-at = {2007-12-05 15:14:50}, priority = {2}, title = {A new Late Miocene great ape from Kenya and its implications for the origins of African great apes and humans}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0706190104}, year = {2007} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:1994369 L3 - citeulike-article-id:1994369 TI - A new Late Miocene great ape from Kenya and its implications for the origins of African great apes and humans JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences SP - 0706190104 N2 - Extant African great apes and humans are thought to have diverged from each other in the Late Miocene. However, few hominoid fossils are known from Africa during this period. Here we describe a new genus of great ape (Nakalipithecus nakayamai gen. et sp. nov.) recently discovered from the early Late Miocene of Nakali, Kenya. The new genus resembles Ouranopithecus macedoniensis (9.68.7 Ma, Greece) in size and some features but retains less specialized characters, such as less inflated cusps and better-developed cingula on cheek teeth, and it was recovered from a slightly older age (9.99.8 Ma). Although the affinity of Ouranopithecus to the extant African apes and humans has often been inferred, the former is known only from southeastern Europe. The discovery of N. nakayamai in East Africa, therefore, provides new evidence on the origins of African great apes and humans. N. nakayamai could be close to the last common ancestor of the extant African apes and humans. In addition, the associated primate fauna from Nakali shows that hominoids and other non-cercopithecoid catarrhines retained higher diversity into the early Late Miocene in East Africa than previously recognized. 10.1073/pnas.0706190104 KW - evolution KW - human AU - Kunimatsu, Yutaka AU - Nakatsukasa, Masato AU - Sawada, Yoshihiro AU - Sakai, Tetsuya AU - Hyodo, Masayuki AU - Hyodo, Hironobu AU - Itaya, Tetsumaru AU - Nakaya, Hideo AU - Saegusa, Haruo AU - Mazurier, Arnaud AU - Saneyoshi, Mototaka AU - Tsujikawa, Hiroshi AU - Yamamoto, Ayumi AU - Mbua, Emma PY - 2007/11/16/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0706190104 ER -