Neha Patil (Editor)

Kenyapithecus

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Kingdom
  
Order
  
Family
  
Scientific name
  
Kenyapithecus

Rank
  
Genus

Phylum
  
Chordata

Superfamily
  
Hominoidea

Subfamily
  
†Kenyapithecinae

Higher classification
  
Great apes


Similar
  
Ape, Great apes, Primate, Afropithecus, Proconsul

Kenyapithecus wickeri fragments


Kenyapithecus wickeri was 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. More recent investigations suggest Kenyapithecus is more primitive than that and is only slightly more modern than when Proconsul is considered to be an ape.

Contents

Kenyapithecus httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Evidence suggests that Kenyapithecus wickeri was one of the species that started a radiation of apes out of Africa.

Kenyapithecus Kenyapithecus

Kenyapithecus how to pronounce it


Morphology

Impressed by Kenyapithecus's modern-looking teeth, Leakey declared Kenyapithecus to be "a very early ancestor of man himself."

Kenyapithecus possessed craniodental adaptations for hard object feeding including thicker molar enamel, and a large mandible, large premolars and upper incisors that are similar to those seen in living pitheciine monkeys. Kenyapithecus also possessed macaque-like limbs adapted for a knuckle-walking mode of semi-terrestrial locomotion. This could show that as hominins evolved, they passed through a knuckle-walking phase.

Kenyapithecus wickeri has very distinct features, especially details in the canine teeth and is similar to modern apes.

Kenyapithecus Hominoid1101 Kenyapithecus

Kenyapithecus Kenyapithecusjpeg

Kenyapithecus Hominoid1101 Kenyapithecus

References

Kenyapithecus Wikipedia


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