Middle Miocene hominoid origins.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Animals↗
Biomedical subjects
M L McCrossin
Publications and source records attributed to M L McCrossin.
Earliest known Old World monkey skull.
Similarities of the skull are commonly used to support hypotheses of ancestor-descendant relationships between fossil and living ape genera, especially between the late Miocene apes Sivapithecus and Dryopithecus from Eurasia and the living orang-utan (Pongo) from Borneo and Sumatra. Yet determining whether craniofacial traits shared by extant and Miocene apes are primitive or derived is severely hampered by the rarity of well-preserved fossil crania, particularly of early members of their closest outgroup, the Old World monkeys (Cercopithecoidea). The discovery of a complete and undistorted skull of Victoriapithecus at middle Miocene deposits from Maboko Island, Kenya, provides evidence of intact cranial-vault and basicranial morphology, brain size and craniofacial hafting for a primate from between 32 and 7 million years ago. Victoriapithecus represents a branch of Old World monkey that is intermediate between extant cercopithecids (Colobinae and Cercopithecinae) and the common ancestor they shared with apes (Hominoidea). The skull preserves traits widely thought to be derived for extant and fossil members of a proposed Sivapithecus/Pongo clade, but which now appear to be primitive features of ancestral Old World higher primates in general.
Animals↗
Recently recovered Kenyapithecus mandible and its implications for great ape and human origins.
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.
Animals↗
Facial anatomy of Victoriapithecus and its relevance to the ancestral cranial morphology of Old World monkeys and apes.
Recently discovered craniofacial fossils of the middle Miocene cercopithecoid Victoriapithecus are described. The frontal, zygomatic, maxilla, and premaxilla anatomy differ from the previously proposed colobine-like ancestral cercopithecoid morphotype in several significant respects. This morphotype was based on the assumption that features held in common by subordinate hominoid and cercopithecoid morphotypes (Colobinae and Hylobatidae) are primitive for Old World monkeys. Cranial similarities between Victoriapithecus, which represents the sister-group of both colobine and cercopithecine monkeys, and the shorter-snouted Cercopithecinae (Macaca and Cercopithecus) indicate that the last common ancestor of Old World monkeys possessed the following features: a narrow interorbital septum, moderately long snout, moderately long and anteriorly tapering premaxilla, large procumbent upper central incisors set anterior to and with longer roots than lateral incisors, moderately tall face below the orbits, teardrop-shaped nasal aperture of low height and moderate width, and probably long and narrow nasal bones. The Victoriapithecus cranium is also characterized by features not present in modern cercopithecids. These include a deep malar region of the zygomatic and the presence of a frontal trigon due to the occurrence of temporal lines that merge with supraorbital costae close to the midline of each orbit and converge anterior to bregma. These features are interpreted as primitive retentions from the basal catarrhine condition as indicated by the occurrence of these features among primitive catarrhines (Aegyptopithecus) and Miocene hominoids (Afropithecus).
Animals↗
The lacrimal fossa of cercopithecoidea, with special reference to cladistic analysis of Old World monkey relationships.
Re-examination of lacrimal fossa patterns in extant cercopithecoids indicates that the last common ancestor of Cercopithecini and Papionini, and hence of Cercopithecinae, probably retained a maxillary contribution to the lacrimal fossa, as did the common ancestor of Colobinae. Consequently, the presence of a maxilla-lacrimal fossa cannot be used to assess the subfamily affinity of Old World monkeys. In addition to being correlated with general facial lengthening, the derived, exclusively lacrimal pattern of Erythrocebus, Mandrillus, Papio, Theropithecus and some (but not all) guenons, macaques and mangabeys may be associated with extreme narrowing of the interorbital septum. Moreover, the derived condition may have evolved in response to independent exploitation of open country habitats as it enhances protection of the lacrimal sac and serves to reduce eye infection in terrestrial species.
Animals↗
New species of bushbaby from the middle Miocene of Maboko Island, Kenya.
A mandible recovered from ca. 15 million year old deposits of Maboko Island, Kenya, represents the first bushbaby known from the middle Miocene. The specimen is from a new species of Komba, a genus previously known from early Miocene occurrences in western Kenya and northeastern Uganda. Komba is revised, with emended diagnoses proposed for the genus, type-species, and referred species. Komba sp. nov. is distinguished by its larger size and differences of molar cusp acuity, buccal cingulum expression, and mental foramen configuration. Contrary to previous opinion, species of Komba probably diverged prior to the last common ancestor of extant Galaginae, and it is unlikely that they represent early stages of living bushbaby species lineages. Although contemporary Progalago is widely regarded as a galagine, aspects of upper molar, lower premolar, and mandibular corpus morphology indicate that it is more closely related to lorisines. Unlike the greater success currently enjoyed by bushbabies, lorisines were more diverse and almost as abundant as galagines in the early Miocene of eastern Africa.
Animals↗
Ancestral facial morphology of Old World higher primates.
Fossil remains of the cercopithecoid Victoria-pithecus recently recovered from middle Miocene deposits of Maboko Island (Kenya) provide evidence of the cranial anatomy of Old World monkeys prior to the evolutionary divergence of the extant subfamilies Colobinae and Cercopithecinae. Victoria-pithecus shares a suite of craniofacial features with the Oligocene catarrhine Aegyptopithecus and early Miocene hominoid Afropithecus. All three genera manifest supraorbital costae, anteriorly convergent temporal lines, the absence of a postglabellar fossa, a moderate to long snout, great facial height below the orbits, a deep cheek region, and anteriorly tapering premaxilla. The shared presence of these features in a catarrhine generally ancestral to apes and Old World monkeys, an early ape, and an early Old World monkey indicates that they are primitive characteristics that typified the last common ancestor of Hominoidea and Cercopithecoidea. These results contradict prevailing cranial morphotype reconstructions for ancestral catarrhines as Colobus- or Hylobates-like, characterized by a globular anterior braincase and orthognathy. By resolving several equivocal craniofacial morphocline polarities, these discoveries lay the foundation for a revised interpretation of the ancestral cranial morphology of Catarrhini more consistent with neontological and existing paleontological evidence.
Animals↗