Rangwapithecus
Extinct genus of primates
Rangwapithecus is an extinct genus of ape from the Early Miocene of Kenya. Late Miocene phalanges from Hungary have also been assigned to this genus, but were later reclassified as Dryopithecus.
01Description
Rangwapithecus weighed approximately 15 kg (33 lb) and the size and shape of the ape's teeth indicate that it was a folivore. An arboreal ape from the earliest Miocene adapted to life in the rainforest, it is associated particularly with Mfangano Island although the species previously inhabited a woodland-bushland environment.
02Taxonomy
Rangwapithecus was sympatric with Proconsul, and may be synonymous with both Proconsul gordoni and Proconsul vancouveringi. It is also similar to another species found in Africa. Rangwapithecus gordoni and P. africanus are similarly sized though they differ morphologically, and both are restricted to Koru and Songhur.
03Palaeoecology
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Rangwapithecus”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Rangwapithecus gordoni jaw.JPG by Ghedoghedo, CC BY-SA 3.0
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