Kamoyapithecus Explained

Kamoyapithecus ('Kamoya' + Greek - “ape”) was a primate that lived in Africa during the late Oligocene period, about 24.2-27.5 million years ago.^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]} First found in 1948 as part of a University of California, Berkeley expedition, it was at first thought to be under a form of Proconsul by C.T. Madden in 1980, but after a re-examination by Meave Leakey and associates later, the fossils were moved under a new genus Kamoyapithecus, named after the renowned fossil finder Kamoya Kimeu. The genus is represented by only one species, K. hamiltoni.^[4]

Morphology

Kamoyapithecus is known exclusively by its teeth and jaws. The type specimen, KNM-LS 7, was a right maxillary jaw fragment found during the expedition in 1948. Through this fossil as well as more recent fragments of mandibles and teeth, it has been found that Kamoyapithecus had very large and robust canines. The canines appear to have a distinctive tip that links Kamoyapithecus with hominoid genus Proconsul.^[7]

Its teeth also have been found through plane film X-ray to not be thickly enamelled. This suggests that Kamoyapithecus had more emphasis on foods that did not involve heavy wearing, such as soft fruits, nuts and seeds. This would have been well-placed in the Late-Oligocene in Africa, when forests covered a lot of the land.

Similar affinities with the jaw fragments have been seen with Afropithecus, Proconsul, and the Morotopithecus, but nothing definitive can be stated as to the relationship between these genera and Kamoyapithecus as the fossil material is very fragmentary.

Notes and References

1. Andrews . P. . Harrison . T. . 2009 . The anatomy and systematic position of the early Miocene proconsulid from Meswa Bridge, Kenya . Journal of Human Evolution . 5 . 479–496 . 19394999 . 10.1016/j.jhevol.2009.02.005 . 56. Proconsulidae . 2009JHumE..56..479H .
2. Boschetto . H.B. . Brown . F.H. . McDougall . I. . 1992 . Stratigraphy of the Lothidok Range, northern Kenya, and K-Ar ages of its Miocene primates . Journal of Human Evolution . 22 . 1 . 47–71 . 10.1016/0047-2484(92)90029-9. 1992JHumE..22...47B .
3. Disotell . T. R. . Noviello . C. M. . Raaum . R. L. . Sterner . K. N. . Stewart . C. . 2005 . Catarrhine primate divergence dates estimated from complete mitochondrial genomes: concordance with fossil and nuclear DNA evidence . Journal of Human Evolution . 3 . 237–257 . 15737392 . 10.1016/j.jhevol.2004.11.007 . 48. 2005JHumE..48..237R .
4. Leakey, M.G. . Ungar, P.S. . Walker, A. . A new genus of large primate from the late Oligocene of Lothidok, Turkana District, Kenya . Journal of Human Evolution . 1995 . 519–531 . 10.1006/jhev.1995.1040 . 28. 6 . free . 1995JHumE..28..519L .
5. MacLatchy . L. . Young . N. M. . 2004 . The phylogenetic position of Morotopithecus . Journal of Human Evolution . 46 . 2 . 163–184 . 10.1016/j.jhevol.2003.11.002 . 14871561. 2004JHumE..46..163Y .
6. Steiper . M. E. . Sukarna . T. Y. . Young . N. M. . 2004 . Genomic data support the hominoid slowdown and an Early Oligocene estimate for the hominoid–cercopithecoid divergence . . 10.1073/pnas.0407270101 . 15572456 . 101 . 49 . 17021–17026. 535389. 2004PNAS..10117021S . free .
7. Hammond . A. . Foecke . K.. Kelley . J. . 2019 . Hominoid anterior teeth from the late Oligocene site of Losodok, Kenya . Journal of Human Evolution . 128 . 59–75 . 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.12.010 . 30825982. 73489242 . free . 2019JHumE.128...59H .