Proconsul major, an extinct 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...

 of the genus Proconsul

Proconsul (genus)

Proconsul is an extinct genus of primates that existed from 23 to 5 million years ago during the Early Miocene epoch. Fossil remains are present in Eastern Africa including Kenya and Uganda. Four species have been classified to date: P. africanus, P. heseloni, P. major and P. nyanzae. The four...

, was possibly the ancestor of Afropithecus

Afropithecus

Afropithecus turkanensis, a new Miocene hominoid, 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...

and showed hominid characteristics. It occurred during the early 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 roughly, the size of a gorilla

Gorilla

Gorillas are the largest extant species of primates. They are ground-dwelling, predominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the forests of central Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and either four or five subspecies...

.

Proconsul major lived on the continent

Continent

A continent is one of several very large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, with seven regions commonly regarded as continents—they are : Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.Plate tectonics is...

 of 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...

. Based upon dental morphology

Morphology (biology)

In biology, morphology is a branch of bioscience dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features....

, Proconsul major was a frugivorous species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

.

Morphology

Proconsul major had a dental formula of 2:1:2:3 on both the upper and lower jaw

Jaw

The jaw is any opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth, typically used for grasping and manipulating food. The term jaws is also broadly applied to the whole of the structures constituting the vault of the mouth and serving to open and close it and is part of the body plan of...

. The canines

Canine tooth

In mammalian oral anatomy, the canine teeth, also called cuspids, dogteeth, fangs, or eye teeth, are relatively long, pointed teeth...

are sexually dimorphic. The inferior transverse torus is absent and the superior transverse torus is well-developed in Proconsul major. This species had an average body mass of around 50.0 kilograms.

External links

• http://members.tripod.com/cacajao/proconsul_major.html
• http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/~reffland/anthropology/anthro2003/origins/primates/primate_evol/miocene.html
• Mikko's Phylogeny archives