Ugandapithecus major

Ugandapithecus major
Temporal range: Miocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Superfamily: Hominoidea
Family: Proconsulidae (extinct)
Subfamily: Proconsulinae (extinct)
Genus: Ugandapithecus (extinct)
Species: U. major
Binomial name
Ugandapithecus major
Le Gros Clark & Leakey, 1950

Ugandapithecus major is an extinct hominid primate of the disputed genus Ugandapithecus.[1] Prior to 2000 it was known as Proconsul major[2] and some argue[3] against the renaming.

U. major is one of two large hominids that inhabited the region around Moroto, Uganda, the other being Proconsul.

Fossil Finds

A nearly complete fossilized U. major skull estimated to be 20 million years old was found at the Napak XV site near Iriri on the slope of the extinct Napak Volcano in July 2011 by team led by Martin Pickford and Brigitte Senut.[4][5] After a year of cleaning, documentation and reconstruction in Paris, the skull fragments are now on display in the Uganda Museum in Kampala.[6]

Previously, only smaller pieces of younger fossils had been found at Napak and at the Moroto I site near Loitakero.

References

  1. ↑ Senut, Brigitte; Pickford, Martin; Gommery, Dominique; Kunimatsu, Yutaka (15 August 2000). "Un nouveau genre d’hominoïde du Miocène inférieur d’Afrique orientale : Ugandapithecus major (Le Gros Clark & Leakey, 1950)". Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences - Series IIA - Earth and Planetary Science 331 (3): 227–233. doi:10.1016/S1251-8050(00)01407-5. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  2. ↑ Tuttle, RH (2010). Hidemi Ishida, ed. Human origins and environmental backgrounds. New York: Springer. p. 20. ISBN 978-1441939944.
  3. ↑ Begun, David (2007). "4 Fossil Record of Miocene Hominoids". In Winfried Henke, Ian Tattersall. Handbook of paleoanthropology (PDF). New York: Springer. p. 934. ISBN 978-3540324744.
  4. ↑ Mennessier, Marc (2011-09-21). "Découverte d'un lointain cousin des hominidés". Le Figaro.
  5. ↑ Kostov, Nicolas (August 26, 2011). "Ugandapithecus Major: Our cousin, 20 million years ago". Daily Monitor. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  6. ↑ Nyanzi, Peter; Aloysious Kasoma (2012-08-18). "Bienvenue, Ugandapithecus Major". The Independent (Kampala). Retrieved 2012-08-28.


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