Proconsulidae
Encyclopedia
The Proconsulidae are an early family
of primate
s that lived during the Miocene
epoch in Kenya
, and was restricted to Africa
. The family is split into two subfamilies.
Members of the family have a mixture of Old World monkey
and ape
characteristics, so the placement in the ape superfamily Hominoidea is tentative; some scientists place Proconsulidae outside of Hominoidea, before the split of the apes and Old World monkeys. If Proconsulidae is not an ape family, then they would be somewhat closely related to Aegyptopithecus
.
The first specimen, a partial jaw discovered in 1909 by a gold prospector at Koru
, near Kisumu
in western Kenya, was also the oldest fossil hominoid known until recently, and the first fossil mammal ever found in sub-Saharan Africa. The name, Proconsul, was devised by Arthur Hopwood in 1933 and means "before Consul." At the time Consul was being used as a circus name for performing chimpanzees. The Folies Bergère of 1903 in Paris
had a popular performing chimpanzee
named Consul, and so did the Belle Vue Zoo in Manchester
, England, in 1894. On the latter's death in that year Ben Brierley wrote a commemorative poem wondering where the "Missing Link
" between chimpanzees and men was.
Hopwood in 1931 had discovered the fossils of three individuals while expeditioning with Louis Leakey
in the vicinity of Lake Victoria
. The Consul that he selected to use in the name was neither of the ones mentioned above, but another located in the London Zoo
. Consul is being used Linnaean-style to symbolize the chimpanzee
. Proconsul is therefore "ancestral to the Chimpanzee" in Hopwood's words. He also added africanus as the species name. It was the only one known at the time.
Other fossils discovered later were initially classified as africanus and subsequently reclassified; that is, the total pool of fossils originally considered africanus was "split" and the fragments "lumped" with other finds to create a new species. For example, Mary Leakey's famous find of 1948 began as africanus and was split from it to be lumped with Thomas Whitworth's finds of 1951 as heseloni by Alan Walker in 1993. This process creates some confusion for the public, which is told that africanus became heseloni. The finds from Koru and Songhor are still considered africanus. Four species are still defined even though many fossils have jumped species .
The family of Proconsulidae was first proposed by Louis Leakey, eleven years after he and Wilfrid Le Gros Clark had defined africanus, nyanzae and major. It was not immediately accepted but ultimately prevailed.
The history of hominoid classification in the second half of the 20th century is sufficiently complex to warrant a few books itself. Most of the palaeoanthropologists have changed their minds at least once as new fossils have come to light and new observations have made, and will probably continue to do so. The classifications found in the literature of one decade are not generally the same as those of another. For example, in 1987 Peter Andrews and Lawrence Martin, established palaeontologists, took the point of view that Proconsul is not a Hominoid, but is a sister taxon to it.
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
of primate
Primate
A primate is a mammal of the order Primates , which contains prosimians and simians. Primates arose from ancestors that lived in the trees of tropical forests; many primate characteristics represent adaptations to life in this challenging three-dimensional environment...
s that lived during the Miocene
Miocene
The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...
epoch in Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, and was restricted to Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. The family is split into two subfamilies.
Members of the family have a mixture of Old World monkey
Old World monkey
The Old World monkeys or Cercopithecidae are a group of primates, falling in the superfamily Cercopithecoidea in the clade Catarrhini. The Old World monkeys are native to Africa and Asia today, inhabiting a range of environments from tropical rain forest to savanna, shrubland and mountainous...
and ape
Ape
Apes are Old World anthropoid mammals, more specifically a clade of tailless catarrhine primates, belonging to the biological superfamily Hominoidea. The apes are native to Africa and South-east Asia, although in relatively recent times humans have spread all over the world...
characteristics, so the placement in the ape superfamily Hominoidea is tentative; some scientists place Proconsulidae outside of Hominoidea, before the split of the apes and Old World monkeys. If Proconsulidae is not an ape family, then they would be somewhat closely related to Aegyptopithecus
Aegyptopithecus
Aegyptopithecus zeuxis means “linking Egyptian ape”. It was discovered by E. Simons in 1965. There is controversy over whether or not Aegyptopithecus should be a genus on its own or whether it should be moved into the genus Propliopithecus. If Aegyptopithecus is placed in its own genus, then there...
.
Discovery and classification
Koru, Kenya
Koru is a village in Nyando District, Nyanza Province, Kenya. It forms an electoral ward of Muhoroni Constituency and Muhoroni town council . Koru is also a location in the Muhoroni division of Nyando District . Elevation 1540m.- Transport :...
, near Kisumu
Kisumu
Kisumu is a port city in western Kenya at , with a population of 355,024 . It is the third largest city in Kenya, the principal city of western Kenya, the immediate former capital of Nyanza Province and the headquarters of Kisumu County. It has a municipal charter but no city charter...
in western Kenya, was also the oldest fossil hominoid known until recently, and the first fossil mammal ever found in sub-Saharan Africa. The name, Proconsul, was devised by Arthur Hopwood in 1933 and means "before Consul." At the time Consul was being used as a circus name for performing chimpanzees. The Folies Bergère of 1903 in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
had a popular performing chimpanzee
Chimpanzee
Chimpanzee, sometimes colloquially chimp, is the common name for the two extant species of ape in the genus Pan. The Congo River forms the boundary between the native habitat of the two species:...
named Consul, and so did the Belle Vue Zoo in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, England, in 1894. On the latter's death in that year Ben Brierley wrote a commemorative poem wondering where the "Missing Link
Transitional fossil
A transitional fossil is any fossilized remains of a lifeform that exhibits characteristics of two distinct taxonomic groups. A transitional fossil is the fossil of an organism near the branching point where major individual lineages diverge...
" between chimpanzees and men was.
Hopwood in 1931 had discovered the fossils of three individuals while expeditioning with Louis Leakey
Louis Leakey
Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey was a British archaeologist and naturalist whose work was important in establishing human evolutionary development in Africa. He also played a major role in creating organizations for future research in Africa and for protecting wildlife there...
in the vicinity of Lake Victoria
Lake Victoria
Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. The lake was named for Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, by John Hanning Speke, the first European to discover this lake....
. The Consul that he selected to use in the name was neither of the ones mentioned above, but another located in the London Zoo
London Zoo
London Zoo is the world's oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in London on 27 April 1828, and was originally intended to be used as a collection for scientific study. It was eventually opened to the public in 1847...
. Consul is being used Linnaean-style to symbolize the chimpanzee
Chimpanzee
Chimpanzee, sometimes colloquially chimp, is the common name for the two extant species of ape in the genus Pan. The Congo River forms the boundary between the native habitat of the two species:...
. Proconsul is therefore "ancestral to the Chimpanzee" in Hopwood's words. He also added africanus as the species name. It was the only one known at the time.
Other fossils discovered later were initially classified as africanus and subsequently reclassified; that is, the total pool of fossils originally considered africanus was "split" and the fragments "lumped" with other finds to create a new species. For example, Mary Leakey's famous find of 1948 began as africanus and was split from it to be lumped with Thomas Whitworth's finds of 1951 as heseloni by Alan Walker in 1993. This process creates some confusion for the public, which is told that africanus became heseloni. The finds from Koru and Songhor are still considered africanus. Four species are still defined even though many fossils have jumped species .
The family of Proconsulidae was first proposed by Louis Leakey, eleven years after he and Wilfrid Le Gros Clark had defined africanus, nyanzae and major. It was not immediately accepted but ultimately prevailed.
The history of hominoid classification in the second half of the 20th century is sufficiently complex to warrant a few books itself. Most of the palaeoanthropologists have changed their minds at least once as new fossils have come to light and new observations have made, and will probably continue to do so. The classifications found in the literature of one decade are not generally the same as those of another. For example, in 1987 Peter Andrews and Lawrence Martin, established palaeontologists, took the point of view that Proconsul is not a Hominoid, but is a sister taxon to it.
Taxonomy
- Proconsuloidea or Hominoidea
- Proconsulidae Leakey, 1963
- Proconsulinae Leakey, 1963
- Proconsul Hopwood, 1933
- Proconsul africanusProconsul africanusProconsul africanus is the first species of the oligocene-era fossil genus of primate to be discovered and was named by Arthur Hopwood, an associate of Louis Leakey, in 1933.- Discovery :...
Hopwood, 1933 - Proconsul heseloni Walker et al., 1993
- Proconsul majorProconsul majorProconsul major, an extinct primate of the genus Proconsul, was possibly the ancestor of Afropithecus and showed hominid characteristics. It occurred during the early Miocene and was roughly, the size of a gorilla....
Le Gros Clark & Leakey, 1950 - Proconsul nyanzaeProconsul nyanzaeProconsul nyanzae is a species of fossil primate first discovered by Louis Leakey on Rusinga Island in 1942, which he published in Nature in 1943. A joint publication of Wilfrid Le Gros Clark and Louis Leakey in 1951, "The Miocene Hominoidea of East Africa", first defines Proconsul nyanzae...
Le Gros Clark & Leakey, 1950
- Proconsul africanus
- Proconsul Hopwood, 1933
- Nyanzapithecinae Harrison, 2002
- Nyanzapithecus Harrison, 1986
- Nyanzapithecus harrisoni Kunimatsu, 1997
- Nyanzapithecus pickfordi Harrison, 1986
- Nyanzapithecus vancouveringorum Andrews, 1974
- Mabokopithecus von Koenigswald, 1969
- Mabokopithecus clarki von Koenigswald, 1969
- Rangwapithecus Andrews, 1974
- Rangwapithecus gordoni Andrews, 1974
- Turkanapithecus Leakey & Leakey, 1986
- Turkanapithecus kalakolensis Leakey & Leakey, 1986
- Nyanzapithecus Harrison, 1986
- Proconsulinae Leakey, 1963
- Proconsulidae Leakey, 1963