A hominoid genus from the early Miocene of Uganda

Science

Volumn 276, Issue 5311, 1997, Pages 401-404

  Gebo, Daniel L ^a   MacLatchy, Laura ^b   Kityo, Robert ^c   Deino, Alan ^d   Kingston, John ^e   Pilbeam, David ^f  

^a NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b STONY BROOK UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^c MAKERERE UNIVERSITY   (Uganda)

^d BERKELEY GEOCHRONOLOGY CENTER   (United States)

^e YALE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^f HARVARD UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

APE; ARTICLE; FOSSIL; HOMINID; HUMAN; NONHUMAN; PHYLOGENY; PRIORITY JOURNAL; SEDIMENT; SPECIES; TAXONOMY; UGANDA;

ANIMALS; FEMUR; FOSSILS; HOMINIDAE; HUMANS; LUMBAR VERTEBRAE; SCAPULA; UGANDA;

HOMINOID; MIOCENE;

UGANDA;

EID: 0030620490     PISSN: 00368075     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1126/science.276.5311.401     Document Type: Article

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38. 3. Judging from worn occusal surfaces, the enamel was intermediate thin as in P. major (51). Further, computed tomography scans on the skull of Afropithecus reveal a thick palate with a small incisive canal (52), an anatomical condition that is distinctly different from the large canal of the Moroto palate (53). The glenoid is rounder in shape and more like that of extant apes and atelines than can be inferred for Miocene hominoids other than Oreopithecus and possibly Dryopithecus (42). Lumbar morphology differs from that of Proconsul and resembles that of Oreopithecus, possibly Dryopithecus, and extant large apes and siamangs in transverse process position. Proximal femoral morphology resembles that of cercopithecines and primitive hominoids such as Proconsul, differing from that of extant apes. Distal femoral anatomy resembles that of Proconsul, Kenyapithecus, and extant apes in mediolateral breadth but differs from hylobatids, Proconsul, and Kenyapithecus in the buttressing of the intercondylar notch. In 1962, L. S. B. Leakey referred the Moroto palate to Pseudogorilla (54) but did so without any species diagnosis. Pseudogorilla was created by Elliot in 1912 for ape specimens from the "Upper Congo" (55), now referred to Gorilla. Regardless of the validity of Pseudogorilla, the Moroto fossil is clearly different from any extant ape. Type species: Morotopithecus bishopi sp. nov. Etymology: Moroto, after Moroto township in Karamoja District in Uganda, and pithekos from the Greek for ape; and after the late W. W. Bishop. Type specimen: UMP 62-11 (UMP, Ugandan Museum of Paleontology), a palatofacial specimen with all teeth. Type locality: Moroto II. Distribution: Early Miocene, Karamoja District, NE Uganda. Hypodigm: Type and UMP 62-10 and UMP 66-01, which are probably associated mandibular fragments; UMP 62-12, left upper canine; UMP 67-28, middle lumbar vertebra; UMP 68-05, middle lumbar vertebral body; UMP 68-06, a last thoracic vertebra; UMP 68-07, the lamina and base of a spine of a lumbar vertebra; MUZM 80, right and left femoral pieces (all from the Moroto II locality); and MUZM 60, scapular fragment with glenoid (Moroto I locality). Specific diagnosis: As for genus.
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56. We thank the many helpful individuals in Uganda, including the Office of the President, the National Research Council, and the staff at the Zoology Museum at Makerere University, as well as C. Chapman for the many efforts made on our behalf. We thank D. Aleper for assistance in the field; B. Masek for assistance in the laboratory; M. Mehrer and J. Flynn; and the American School of Prehistoric Research and the L. S. B. Leakey Foundation for contributing funding to this project.