What are the characteristics of Kenyapithecus?
Features for which little or no fossil evidence existed, but which Kenyapithecus was said to share with hominids, include: small lower incisors relative to cheek tooth size, reduced incisor procumbency, arcuate dental arcade, short rostrum, and a humerus that is longer than the femur (Simons and Pilbeam, 1972).
Who is closely related with Kenyapithecus?
Kenyapithecus wickeri is a fossil ape discovered by Louis Leakey in 1961 at a site called Fort Ternan in Kenya. The upper jaw and teeth were dated to 14 million years ago. One theory states that Kenyapithecus may be the common ancestor of all the great apes.
What kind of life did Kenyapithecus live?
noun. An extinct ape, Kenyapithecus wickeri, known from Middle Miocene fossil remains found at Fort Ternan, Kenya, dated to about 14 million years ago, and regarded by some as the ancestor of all great apes.
Who discovered the remains of Kenyapithecus?
Paleontologist Louis Leakey first discovered Kenyapithecus in 1961 at a site called Fort Ternan. He dubbed the 14 million-year old upper jaw and teeth found there K. wickeri. Four years later, he dug up additional teeth and jaw bits on Maboko Island in Lake Victoria, which he called K.
What is the meaning of kenyapithecus?
1 : a genus of extinct ancient primates (K. africanus and K. wickeri) of eastern Africa held to be part of the great ape and human evolutionary lineage of which the primitive form (K. africanus) is now sometimes included in another primate genus (genus Equatorius)
What is meant by Pithecus?
The pithecus portion of the name is from the Greek word for “ape”. Like most hominids, but unlike all previously recognized hominins, it had a grasping hallux or big toe adapted for locomotion in the trees.
Who was the first ape man?
The earliest hominin, of presumably primitive bipedalism, is considered to be either Sahelanthropus or Orrorin, both of which arose some 6 to 7 million years ago.
Who found sivapithecus?
This find was named “Ramapithecus”. The discoverer, G. Edward Lewis, claimed that it was distinct from Sivapithecus, as the jaw was more like a human’s than any other fossil ape then known, a claim revived in the 1960s.
Who discovered Dryopithecus?
The first Dryopithecus fossils were described from the French Pyrenees by French paleontologist Édouard Lartet in 1856, three years before Charles Darwin published his On the Origin of Species.
Why is it called Australopithecus?
The genus name, meaning “southern ape,” refers to the first fossils found, which were discovered in South Africa. Perhaps the most famous specimen of Australopithecus is “Lucy,” a remarkably preserved fossilized skeleton from Ethiopia that has been dated to 3.2 mya.
What does Australopithecus mean in Latin?
southern ape
Origin of Australopithecus First recorded in 1920–25; from New Latin: literally “southern ape,” equivalent to austrāl(is) “southern” + -o- connecting vowel + pithēcus “ape,” from Greek píthēkos.
What kind of food did the Kenyapithecus eat?
Based on the limited material, however, Kenyapithecus is known to have been a large, sexually dimorphic hominoid characterized by a robust lower jaw and thickly enameled teeth. These dental features have suggested to some researchers that Kenyapithecus fed on hard or abrasive foods such as nuts and coarse fruits.
Why was the genus of Kenyapithecus so important?
Long recognized as an important genus for understanding the ancestry of great apes and humans, Kenyapithecus has been the subject of fierce taxonomic debate since its original discovery by noted paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey in 1961.
Where was the fossils of Kenyapithecus wickeri found?
Jump to navigation Jump to search. Kenyapithecus wickeri was a fossil ape discovered by Louis Leakey in 1961 at a site called Fort Ternan in Kenya.
Where did Louis Leakey find the Kenyapithecus wickeri?
Kenyapithecus Wickeri. Louis Leakey discovered the first remains of this genus in 1961 when he excavated an upper jaw and isolated teeth from the 14-million-year-old sediments of Fort Ternan in western Kenya. One year later he described these specimens as Kenyapithecus wickeri, which he reconstructed as an early direct ancestor of man.