Afropithecidae

Afropithecus Temporal range: Miocene
Skull cast
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Primates
Superfamily:	Hominoidea
Family:	Proconsulidae ?  (extinct)
Subfamily:	Afropithecinae (extinct)
Genus:	Afropithecus (extinct)
Species:	A. turkanensis
Binomial name
Afropithecus turkanensis Leakey and Leakey, 1986

Afropithecus turkanensis is a Miocene hominoid which was excavated from a small site near Lake Turkana called Kalodirr in northern Kenya in 1986 and was named by Richard Leakey and Meave Leakey. The estimated age of Afropithecus is between 16 and 18 million years old, which was determined with radiometric dating techniques and the geological studies conducted by Broschetto and Brown from the University of Utah. In total there are 46 recovered specimens from Kalodirr relating to Afropithecus consisting of cranial, mandible, dentition and post-cranial remains. The type specimen of Afropithecus turkanensis is KNM-WK 16999.

Richard Leakey and Meave Leakey first described Afropithecus turkanensis to be a large hominoid which appeared to have relatively thick enamel. Leakey suggested that A. turkanensis shared postcranial features with the species Prosconsul nyanzae, which is the best known genus Miocene with literally hundreds of fossils having been found representing almost all skeletal elements, and sharing cranial features with Aegyptopithecus zeuxis and dental features with Heliopithecus which had two weathered molars that indicated a general distinction from known large early catarrhines, and later concluded that A. turkenensis was a primitive, arboreal quadruped similar to P. nyanzae, and that A. turkanensis had primitive facial morphology and derived dental characteristics that would suggest a diet of hard fruits.

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Wikipedia