Ekembo is an early ape (hominoid) 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]
| Ekembo Temporal range: Miocene,
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| Ekembo nyanzae skeleton (formerly Proconsul nyanzae) | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Suborder: | Haplorhini |
| Infraorder: | Simiiformes |
| Parvorder: | Catarrhini |
| Superfamily: | Hominoidea |
| Genus: | †Ekembo McNulty et al., 2015 |
| Species | |
To account for substantial morphological variation in the genus Proconsul, two species, P. nyanzae and P. heseloni, were placed in the new genus Ekembo. Ekembo is one of the earliest ape (Hominoids), after having diverged from the old world monkeys. The Dendropithecidae appear to be sister to Ekembo. Ekembo was found to be paraphyletic with respect to Proconsul and the more advanced Hominoidea.[2][3]
Description
editEkembo 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.
References
edit- ^ 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.
- ^ Rossie, James B.; Hill, Andrew (2018-12-01). "A new species of Simiolus from the middle Miocene of the Tugen Hills, Kenya". Journal of Human Evolution. 125: 50–58. Bibcode:2018JHumE.125...50R. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.09.002. ISSN 0047-2484. PMID 30502897. S2CID 54625375.
- ^ Rasmussen, D. Tab; Friscia, Anthony R.; Gutierrez, Mercedes; Kappelman, John; Miller, Ellen R.; Muteti, Samuel; Reynoso, Dawn; Rossie, James B.; Spell, Terry L. (2019-03-11). "Primitive Old World monkey from the earliest Miocene of Kenya and the evolution of cercopithecoid bilophodonty". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 116 (13): 6051–6056. Bibcode:2019PNAS..116.6051R. doi:10.1073/pnas.1815423116. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 6442627. PMID 30858323.