A Diminutive Pliocene Guenon from Kanapoi, West Turkana, Kenya
Journal of Human Evolution xxx (xxxx) xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Human Evolution journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jhevol A diminutive Pliocene guenon from Kanapoi, West Turkana, Kenya * J. Michael Plavcan a, , Carol V. Ward b, Richard F. Kay c, Fredrick K. Manthi d a Department of Anthropology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA b Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences, M263 Medical Sciences Building, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65212, USA c Department of Evolutionary Anthropology and Division of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Duke University, Box 90383, Durham, NC, 27708, USA d Department of Earth Sciences, National Museums of Kenya, P.O. Box 40658, Nairobi, Kenya article info abstract Article history: Although modern guenons are diverse and abundant in Africa, the fossil record of this group is sur- Received 15 May 2018 prisingly sparse. In 2012 the West Turkana Paleo Project team recovered two associated molar teeth of a Accepted 22 May 2019 small primate from the Pliocene site of Kanapoi, West Turkana, Kenya. The teeth are bilophodont and the Available online xxx third molar lacks a hypoconulid, which is diagnostic for Cercopithecini. The teeth are the same size as those of extant Miopithecus, which is thought to be a dwarfed guenon, as well as a partial mandible Keywords: preserving two worn teeth, previously recovered from Koobi Fora, Kenya, which was also tentatively Miopithecus identified as a guenon possibly allied with Miopithecus. Tooth size and proportions, as well as analysis of Nanopithecus Cercopithecini relative cusp size and shearing crest development clearly separate the fossil from all known guenons.
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