Ekembo
| Ekembo Temporal range: Miocene (23–5 MYA) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Ekembo nyanzae skeleton (formerly Proconsul nyanzae) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Superfamily: | Hominoidea |
| Family: | incertae sedis |
| Genus: | Ekembo McNulty et al. 2015 |
| Species | |
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Ekembo is an extinct primate genus found in 17- to 20-million-year-old sediments from the Miocene epoch. Specimens have been found at sites around the ancient Kisingiri volcano in Kenya on Rusinga Island and Mfangano Island in Lake Victoria. The name Ekembo is Suba for "ape" or "monkey".[1]
To account for substantial morphological variation in the genus Proconsul, two species, P. nyanzae and P. heseloni, were placed in the new genus Ekembo.
Description
Ekembo is distinguished from other early Miocene catarrhines on the basis of dental and mandibular morphology. The molars of Ekembo are more rounded or bunodont than those of Proconsul and the canine teeth taper to a point while those of Proconsul are more "blade-like". E. heseloni is medium-sized while E. nyanzae is larger. Both E. nyanzae and E. heseloni are moderately sexually dimorphic.
Notes
3D models of fossil specimens are available at AfricanFossils.org.
References
- ↑ Kieran P. McNulty, David R. Begun, Jay Kelley, Fredrick K. Manthi and Emma N. Mbua (2015). "A systematic revision of Proconsul with the description of a new genus of early Miocene hominoid". Journal of Human Evolution. 84: 42-61. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.03.009.