| Nacholapithecus Temporal range:
15–14 Million years ago | |
|---|---|
| |
| Nacholapithecus kerioi at the Kyoto University Museum | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Placentalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Family: | †Proconsulidae |
| Genus: | †Nacholapithecus Ishida, Kunimatsu, Nakatsukasa & Nakano, 1999 |
| Species | |
| |
Nacholapithecus kerioi was an ape that lived 15-14 million years ago1 during the Middle Miocene. Fossils have been found in the Nachola formation in northern Kenya. The only member of the genus Nacholapithecus, it is thought to be a key genus in early hominid evolution. Similar in body plan to Proconsul, it had a long vertebral column with six lumbar vertebrae, no tail, a narrow torso, large upper limbs with mobile shoulder joints, and long feet.2
Together with other Kenyapithecinae such as Equatorius, Kenyapithecus, and Griphopithecus, Nacholapithecus displayed synapomorphies with Anoiapithecus.3
Taxonomy
Nacholapithecus was initially classified as belonging in Kenyapithecus,4 then attributed5 to Equatorius (with Equatorius perhaps grouped into a subfamily Equatorinae, instead of both species in Afropithecini),67 finally recognised by Ishida et al. (1999) as a separate genus.8910 Classified perhaps as a member of the family Proconsulidae.11
Fossil finds
Nacholapithecus kerioi is known from the lowest part of the Aka Aiteputh Formation, one of five formations in the Neogene System in Nachola, Samburu District, northern Kenya.1213 The formation is largely part of the north-western rift flank overlying the Nachola Formation.14
Palaeobiology
Morphological evidence suggests arboreal quadrupedalism was for N. kerioi the primary method of locomotion.15
Notes
Notes
- Sawada et al. 2006
- Henke & Hardt 2007, p. 1020
- Moyà-Solà et al. 2009
- Ishida et al. 1984
- Ward et al. 1999
- Cameron 2004
- Cameron 2004, p. 101
- Ishida et al. 1999
- Russon & Begun 2004, p. 305
- Ishida et al. 2004, Abstract
- Zalmout et al. 2010
- Nakatsukasa & Kunimatsu 2009, Abstract
- Sawada et al. 2006
- Ishida et al. 2006, p. 74
- Tomizawa, Yuma; Pina, Marta; Kikuchi, Yasuhiro; Morimoto, Naoki; Nakatsukasa, Masato (January 2025). "Femoral neck cortical bone distribution in Nacholapithecus from the Middle Miocene of Kenya". Journal of Human Evolution. 198 103617. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2024.103617. Retrieved 28 June 2025 – via Elsevier Science Direct.
References
References
- Cameron, D. W. (2004). Hominid Adaptations and Extinctions. UNSW Press. ISBN 978-0-86840-716-6.
- Henke, W.; Hardt, T. (2007). Handbook of paleoanthropology. Springer. ISBN 978-3-540-32474-4.
- Ishida, H.; Pichford, M.; Nakaya, H.; Nakano, Y. (1984). "Fossil anthropoids from Nachola and Samburu Hills, Samburu District, Kenya". African Study Monographs. Supplementary Issue. 2 (2): 73–85. doi:10.14989/68314.
- Ishida, H.; Kunimatsu, Y.; Nakatsukasa, M.; Nakano, Y. (1999). "New hominoid genus from the Middle Miocene of Nachola, Kenya". Anthropological Science. 107 (2): 189–191. doi:10.1537/ase.107.189.
- Ishida, H.; Kunimatsu, Y.; Takano, T.; Nakano, Y.; Nakatsukasa, M. (2004). "Nacholapithecus skeleton from the Middle Miocene of Kenya". Journal of Human Evolution. 46 (1): 69–103. Bibcode:2004JHumE..46...69I. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2003.10.001. PMID 14698685.
- Ishida, H.; Tuttle, R.; Pickford, M.; Ogihara, N.; Nakatsukasa, M. (2006). Ishida, H.; Tuttle, R.; Pickford, M.; Ogihara, N.; Nakatsukasa, M. (eds.). Human Origins and Environmental Backgrounds. Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects. Springer. ISBN 978-0-387-29638-8.
- Moyà-Solà, S.; Alba, D. M.; Almécija, S.; Casanovas-Vilar, I.; Köhler, M.; de Esteban-Trivigno, S.; Robles, J. M.; Galindo, J.; Fortuny, J. (2009). "A unique Middle Miocene European hominoid and the origins of the great ape and human clade". PNAS. 106 (24): 9601–06. Bibcode:2009PNAS..106.9601M. doi:10.1073/pnas.0811730106. PMC 2701031. PMID 19487676.
- Nakatsukasa, M.; Kunimatsu, Y. (May–June 2009). "Nacholapithecus and its importance for understanding hominoid evolution". Evolutionary Anthropology. 18 (3): 103–119. doi:10.1002/evan.20208. S2CID 84530387.
- Russon, A. E.; Begun, D. R. (2004). Russon, A. E.; Begun, D. R. (eds.). The Evolution of Thought: Evolutionary Origins of Great Ape Intelligence. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-78335-4.
- Sawada, Y.; Saneyoshi, M.; Nakayama, K.; Sakai, T.; Itaya, T.; Hyodo, M.; Mukokya, Y.; Pickford, M.; Senut, B.; Tanaka, S. (2006). "The Ages and Geological Backgrounds of Miocene Hominoids Nacholapithecus, Samburupithecus, and Orrorin from Kenya". Human Origins and Environmental Backgrounds. Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects. Springer. pp. 71–96. doi:10.1007/0-387-29798-7_6. ISBN 978-0-387-29638-8.
- Ward, S.; Brown, B.; Hill, A.; Kelley, J.; Downs, W. (1999). "Equatorius: A new hominoid genus from the middle Miocene of Kenya". Science. 285 (5432): 1382–1386. doi:10.1126/science.285.5432.1382. PMID 10464093.
- Zalmout, I. S.; Sanders, W. J.; MacLatchy, L. M.; Gunnell, G. F.; Al-Mufarreh, Y. A.; Ali, M. A.; Nasser, A.-A. H.; Al-Masari, A. M.; Al-Sobhi, S. A.; Nadhra, A. O.; Matari, A. H.; Wilson, J. A.; Gingerich, P. D. (2010). "New Oligocene primate from Saudi Arabia and the divergence of apes and Old World monkeys". Nature. 466 (7304): 360–364. Bibcode:2010Natur.466..360Z. doi:10.1038/nature09094. PMID 20631798. S2CID 205220837.