Rangwapithecus

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Extinct genus of primates

title: "Rangwapithecus" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["nyanzapithecinae", "miocene-primates-of-africa", "monotypic-prehistoric-primate-genera", "cenozoic-mammals-of-africa", "fossil-taxa-described-in-1974"] description: "Extinct genus of primates" topic_path: "general/nyanzapithecinae" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rangwapithecus" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Extinct genus of primates ::

| fossil_range = | image = Rangwapithecus gordoni jaw.JPG | image_caption = Jaw of Rangwapithecus gordoni | taxon = Rangwapithecus | authority = Andrews, 1974

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.

Description

Rangwapithecus weighed approximately 15 kg 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.

Taxonomy

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.

Palaeoecology

Rangwapithecus was a generalised frugivore that was also able to engage in folivory as a fallback during times of dietary stress.

Notes

References

  • {{Cite book | last = Andrews | first = Peter | chapter = Evolution and Environment in the Hominoidea | editor-last = Gee | editor-first = H | editor-link = Henry Gee | title = Shaking the tree: readings from Nature in the history of life | publisher = University of Chicago Press |date=May 2000 | isbn = 978-0-226-28497-2 }}
  • {{Cite journal | last1 = Andrews | first1 = P | last2 = Cronin | first2 = JE | title = The relationships of Sivapithecus and Ramapithecus and the evolution of the orang-utan | journal = Nature | year = 1982 | volume = 297 | issue = 5867 | pages = 541–6 | pmid = 7045678 | doi = 10.1038/297541a0 | bibcode = 1982Natur.297..541A | s2cid = 4368755
  • {{Cite journal | last1 = Andrews | first1 = P. | last2 = Evans | first2 = E. N. | title = The Environment of Ramapithecus in Africa | journal = Paleobiology | year = 1979 | volume = 5 | issue = 1 | pages = 22–30 | jstor = 2400387 | doi = 10.1017/s0094837300006266 | bibcode = 1979Pbio....5...22A | s2cid = 88248574
  • {{Cite journal | last1 = Andrews | first1 = Peter | last2 = Kelley | first2 = Jay | title = Middle Miocene Dispersals of Apes | year = 2007 | journal = Folia Primatologica | volume = 78 | issue = 5–6 | pages = 328–43 | doi = 10.1159/000105148 | pmid = 17855786 | s2cid = 19293586
  • {{Cite journal | last = Begun | first = David R. | title = Catarrhine phalanges from the Late Miocene (Vallesian) of Rudabánya, Hungary | journal = Journal of Human Evolution | year = 1988 | volume = 17 | issue = 4 | pages = 413–37 | doi = 10.1016/0047-2484(88)90030-9 | bibcode = 1988JHumE..17..413B | url = https://anthropology.utoronto.ca/Faculty/Begun/catarrhine%20phalanges.pdf | access-date = 2012-12-22 }}
  • {{Cite book | last = Cameron | first = D. W. | title = Hominid adaptations and extinctions | publisher = UNSW Press | year = 2004 | isbn = 9780868407166 }}
  • {{Cite book | last = Fleagle | first = JG | title = Primate adaptation and evolution | publisher = Academic Press | year = 1999 | isbn = 978-0-12-260341-9
  • {{cite journal | last = Greenfield | first = Leonard Owen | title = On the adaptive pattern of "Ramapithecus" | year = 1979 | journal = American Journal of Physical Anthropology | volume = 50 | issue = 4 | pages = 527–48 | doi = 10.1002/ajpa.1330500406 | pmid = 111557 }}
  • {{Cite book | last = Greenfield | first = L. O. | chapter = A Late Divergence Hypothesis | page = 222 | editor1-last = Ciochon | editor1-first = Russell L. | editor2-last = Fleagle | editor2-first = John G. | title = Primate evolution and human origins | publisher = Transaction Publishers | year = 1987 | series = Evolutionary Foundations of Human Behavior Series | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=98dBTLwvHJ4C&pg=PA222 | access-date = 2011-12-29 | isbn = 9780202011752 }}
  • {{cite journal | last1 = Leakey | first1 = R.E. | last2 = Leakey | first2 = M.G. | title = A new Miocene small-bodied ape from Kenya | journal = Journal of Human Evolution | year = 1987 | volume = 16 | issue = 4 | pages = 369–87 | doi = 10.1016/0047-2484(87)90067-4 | bibcode = 1987JHumE..16..369L
  • {{Cite book | last = Lyell | first = C | authorlink = Charles Lyell | title = Principles of geology: being an attempt to explain the former changes of the earth's surface by reference to causes now in operation, Volume 3 | publisher = J. Murray | year = 1833 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=sWIOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA343 | access-date = 2011-12-29 }}
  • {{cite journal | last = Schwartz | first = JH | title = The evolutionary relationships of man and orang-utans | journal = Nature | year = 1984 | volume = 308 | issue = 5959 | pages = 501–5 | pmid = 6424028 | doi = 10.1038/308501a0 | bibcode = 1984Natur.308..501S | s2cid = 4343195
  • {{Cite book | last = Tuttle | first = R. | title = Apes of the world: their social behavior, communication, mentality, and ecology | page = 28 | publisher = Noyes Publ. | year = 1986 | isbn = 9780815511045
  • {{Cite book | last = Tuttle | first = Russell H. | chapter = Seven Decades of East African Miocene Anthropoid Studies | pages = 15–29 | title = Human origins and environmental backgrounds | editor1-last = Ishida | editor1-first = Hidemi | editor2-last = Tuttle | editor2-first = Russell | editor3-last = Pickford | editor3-first = Martin | editor4-last = Ogihara | editor4-first = Naomichi | editor5-last = Nakatsukasa | editor5-first = Masato | series = Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects | publisher = Birkhäuser | year = 2006 | isbn = 978-0387296388 }}

References

  1. {{Harvnb. Begun. 1988
  2. {{Harvnb. Fleagle. 1999
  3. {{Harvnb. Lyell. 1833
  4. {{Harvnb. Andrews. Kelley. 2007
  5. {{Harvnb. Andrews. Evans. 1979
  6. {{Harvnb. Cameron. 2004
  7. {{Harvnb. Tuttle. 1986
  8. {{Harvnb. Leakey. Leakey. 1987
  9. {{Harvnb. Andrews. 2000
  10. Shearer, Brian M.. (January 2015). "Dental microwear profilometry of African non-cercopithecoid catarrhines of the Early Miocene". [[Journal of Human Evolution]].

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nyanzapithecinaemiocene-primates-of-africamonotypic-prehistoric-primate-generacenozoic-mammals-of-africafossil-taxa-described-in-1974