PMID: 8446615Mar 1, 1993Paper

Recently recovered Kenyapithecus mandible and its implications for great ape and human origins

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
M L McCrossin, B R Benefit

Abstract

We report here a Kenyapithecus africanus juvenile mandible recovered from middle Miocene (ca. 14-16 million years) deposits of Maboko Island (Lake Victoria), Kenya. Symphyseal and dental attributes of the mandible distinguish K. africanus, a species widely regarded as the earliest known member of the great ape and human clade, from other Miocene large-bodied hominoids. The Maboko Island mandible exhibits a markedly proclined symphyseal axis, massive inferior transverse torus, mesiodistally narrow, high-crowned, and strongly procumbent lateral incisor, and molars with cingula restricted to the median buccal cleft. Although the presence of some of these conditions in Kenyapithecus was suggested earlier, the fragmentary and ill-preserved nature of previously known specimens led certain authorities to doubt their validity. Our assessment of mandibular and dental morphology indicates that K. africanus diverged after Proconsul and Griphopithecus but prior to the last common ancestor of Sivapithecus, extant great apes, and humans. The robustly constructed mandibular symphysis and anterior dentition suggest that incisal biting played as important a role as thick molar enamel in the dietary adaptations of K. africanus.

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Citations

Nov 1, 1993·American Journal of Physical Anthropology·B R Benefit, M L McCrossin
Dec 31, 2003·Journal of Human Evolution·Hidemi IshidaMasato Nakatsukasa
Jul 16, 2013·Journal of Human Evolution·James B Rossie, Laura MacLatchy
Jun 3, 2009·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Salvador Moyà-SolàJosep Fortuny
May 3, 2011·PloS One·Jean-Jacques JaegerYaowalak Chaimanee
Apr 9, 2008·Journal of Human Evolution·Jay KelleyBerna Alpagut
Apr 9, 2008·Journal of Human Evolution·Jay KelleyBerna Alpagut
Jun 27, 2012·The Hastings Center Report·Rebecca Dresser
Feb 14, 2002·Journal of Human Evolution·Jay KelleyDana L Duren
Feb 14, 2002·Journal of Human Evolution·Andrew HillSteve Ward
Oct 13, 2001·Journal of Morphology·D J Daegling
Mar 18, 2004·American Journal of Primatology·Richard Potts
Apr 18, 2006·American Journal of Physical Anthropology·Yaowalak ChaimaneeJean-Jacques Jaeger
Jan 30, 2004·Nature·Yaowalak ChaimaneeJean-Jacques Jaeger
Mar 14, 2020·American Journal of Physical Anthropology·Katharine L BaloliaBernard Wood

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