Proconsul (primate)
Proconsul
- Proconsul africanus
- Proconsul heseloni
- Proconsul nyanzae
- Proconsul major
- Proconsul meswae
Proconsul is an extinct genus of primate, which occurred during the early and middle Miocene in Africa. Fossils that are made to this genus have been dated to the period prior to 21 to 14 million years ago. The finds are mainly from Kenya - mostly from the island of Rusinga in Lake Victoria - and from neighboring Uganda. The genus is one of the earliest known representatives of the anthropoids ( Hominoidea ).
The name of Proconsul ( "before the Consul" ) was chosen in 1933 by Arthur Tindell Hopwood ( 1897-1969 ), probably. Alluding to chimpanzee Consul, who lived in the 1930s at the London Zoo
The delimitation of the genus Proconsul of Ugandapithecus is controversial.
Features
The members of the genus Proconsul were tailless quadruped without Überaugenwulst ( supraorbital torus ) with a relatively short snout and - depending on gender - to different degrees trained canines. For the largest known examples of a brain volume of about 150 to 180 cubic centimeters was calculated, which corresponds approximately to that of a living today Siamang. Arms and legs were quite long and also about the same duration, from which it can be concluded that these animals - comparable to today Gibbons - residents of rainforests were and shimmy through the trees, but at times, failed to stop at the bottom: "His big toe and the way in which the muscles must have attached thereto, suggest that he could reach with his feet. But the shoulder, elbow, and arms to show that he was moving along on all fours. "
From the nature of the product obtained in some fossils lumen of their porticoes directs Alan Walker, a generally more leisurely way of moving from, comparable to today howler monkeys. From the state of their teeth was concluded that these animals fed primarily on fruits.
Habitat
Due to the anatomical features and the reconstructed climate data had been argued has always been that Proconsul was an arboreal and occurred in tropical rain forests, but also in open landscapes - that is on the ground - could cope. This interpretation was confirmed finally by excavations on the Kenyan island of Rusinga. There, both four teeth of a young proconsul heseloni as well as the remains of 29 tree stumps were found in the years 2011 to 2013 in a 18 million year old Horizon Fund, whose trunk diameter was 18 to 160 cm. Based on the distances between the stumps of the different trunk diameter of fossil leaves from the same layer Fund and other, mainly geological clues it was concluded that it was a dense forest with tall trees differently. A paleoclimate synopsis of the findings led the researchers to estimate that the temperature of this fossil forest from 22.6 to 34.5 ° C was and the annual rainfall was 1394-2618 mm.
System
The exact position of Proconsul species in the pedigree of anthropoids is controversial. First, their fossils have been interpreted as ancestors of modern chimpanzees and gorillas; hence the reference to chimpanzee Consul in naming. Some scientists suggested Proconsul as Missing Link, as a common ancestor of humans and the great apes. In addition, the delineation of some discoveries of Dryopithecus was at times controversial. Today the genus is usually referred to as a sister group of the apes ancestors.
In 2002, four species have been described, of which differ significantly in the three body size:
- Proconsul africanus: Its weight is estimated at about 20 kg. This was the first, in 1933 appointed by Hopwood species of the genus.
- Proconsul major: Its weight is estimated at around 60 to 80 kg.
- Proconsul heseloni: The delineation of this type introduced in 1993 by P. africanus is controversial. The weight is estimated at just under 20 kg.
- Proconsul nyanzae: His weight was about 20 up to 50 kg between the P. africanus and P. major.
- Proconsul meswae from a locality in the west of Kenya was named by Terry Harrison and Peter Andrews as a fifth species of the genus in 2009.
In addition, in 2005 on the basis of findings from the virtues Hills in Kenya another way Proconsul gitongai proposed.