Victoriapithecus macinnesi was a 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...

. It was described from a single fossil

Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

 specimen, the oldest 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...

 skull

Skull

The skull is a bony structure in the head of many animals that supports the structures of the face and forms a cavity for the brain.The skull is composed of two parts: the cranium and the mandible. A skull without a mandible is only a cranium. Animals that have skulls are called craniates...

 fossil. It was discovered near 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....

 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 is from the middle 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...

 and was closely related to the two or three extinct Prohylobates species.

Morphology

Victoriapithecus macinnesi had a dental formula of 2:1:2:3 on both the upper and lower jaws. This species had lower molar

Molar (tooth)

Molars are the rearmost and most complicated kind of tooth in most mammals. In many mammals they grind food; hence the Latin name mola, "millstone"....

s that are bilophodont with low cusps. The canines of Victoriapithecus macinnesi show sexual dimorphism

Sexual dimorphism

Sexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...

 and the mandible

Mandible

The mandible pronunciation or inferior maxillary bone forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place...

 of this species is relatively deep compared to other Old World monkeys. On the forelimbs, the distal end of the humerus shows a narrow articulation and a deep ulnar notch. Victoriapithecus macinnesi had an average body mass of around 7.0 kilograms.

Range and locomotion

Victoriapithecus macinnesi lived in 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...

 and this species was likely a quadruped

Quadruped

Quadrupedalism is a form of land animal locomotion using four limbs or legs. An animal or machine that usually moves in a quadrupedal manner is known as a quadruped, meaning "four feet"...

due to the postcranial remains.

External links

• Victoriapithecus macinnesi at members.tripod.com
• monkey, the Free Dictionary by Farlex
• Cercopithecidae at Mikko's Phylogeny archive
• Ancestral facial morphology of Old World higher primates, article by Brenda R. Benefit & Monte L. McCrossin in Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA Vol. 88, pp. 5267-5271, June 1991. The entire article concerning Victoriapithecus is displayed, no charge.