Amphipithecus: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 09:02, 6 December 2014

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{{italic title}}{{Taxobox

{{missing-taxobox}}

| name = ''Amphipithecus mogaungensis''

{{italic title}}

[[File:Amphipithecus mogaungensis.jpg|thumbnail|right|Cast ofimage = Amphipithecus mogaungensis Mandible]].jpg

| image_caption = Case of [[mandible]]

'''''Amphipithecus mogaungensis''''' (Ape-like Creature of Mogaung derived from the [[Ancient Greek]] ''ἀμφί , amphi'' meaning "around" and ''pithēkos, pithecus'' meaning "ape") was a [[primate]] that lived in Late [[Eocene]] [[Myanmar]]. Along with another primate ''Pondaungia cotteri'', both are difficult to categorise within the Order, Primata. What little has come to light suggests that both were well beyond the affinitites of [[adapidae]] or [[omomyidae]]. Often referred to as higher primates, [[Anthropoidea]], include [[humans]], [[monkeys]] and [[apes]]. Deep mandibles and mandibular molars with low, broad crowns suggest they are both anthropoids. More material will need to surface to investigate what these primates are. The teeth also suggest that these were [[frugivore]] primates, with a body mass of between six and ten kilograms.

| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Eocene}}

| regnum = [[Animalia]]

| phylum = [[Chordata]]

| classis = [[Mammalia]]

| ordo = [[Primates]]

| superfamilia = [[Anthropoidea]]

| familia = ''[[incertae sedis]]''

| genus = '''''Amphipithecus'''''

| genus_authority = [[Edwin H. Colbert|Colbert]], 1937

| species = '''''A. mogaungensis'''''

| binomial = ''Amphipithecus mogaungensis''

| binomial_authority = [[Edwin H. Colbert|Colbert]], 1937

}}

'''''Amphipithecus mogaungensis''''' (Ape"ape-like Creaturecreature of Mogaung", derived from the [[Ancient Greek]] ''{{lang|grc|[[:wikt:ἀμφί |ἀμφί]]}}, ''{{lang|grc|[[:wikt:amphi-|amphi-]]}}'' meaning "around" and ''{{lang|grc|pithēkos}}'', ''{{lang|la|pithecus}}'' meaning "ape") was a [[primate]] that lived in Late [[Eocene]] [[Myanmar]]. Along with another primate ''Pondaungia cotteri'', both are difficult to categorise within the Order, PrimataPrimates. What little has come to light suggests that both were well beyond the affinitites of [[adapidaeAdapidae]] or [[omomyidaeOmomyidae]]. Often referred to as higher primates, [[Anthropoidea]], include [[humans]], [[monkeys]] and [[apes]]. Deep mandibles and mandibular molars with low, broad crowns suggest they are both anthropoids. More material will need to surface to investigate what these primates are. The teeth also suggest that these were [[frugivore]] primates, with a body mass of between six and ten kilograms{{convert|6|-|10|kg}}.

== Discovery ==

[[File:BarnumBrown Student.jpg|thumbnail|left|Class Portrait of Barnum Brown (1897): University of Kansas Yearbook]]

In early 1923, notable fossil prospector, [[Barnum Brown]] (famed for discovering the first ''[[Tyrannosaurus rex|T. rex]]'' skeleton) travelled with his wife Lilian Brown to [[Yangon]], the capital of [[Myanmar]]. Brown focused his fossil prospection along areas of Pondaung [[Sandstone]]. It was in the outskirts of [[Mogaung]] town that he identified a mandible with three teeth (Right). He did not recognise the significance of his find until 14 years later, when [[Edwin H. Colbert]] identified the fossil as a new species of primate and the earliest known anthropoid in the world.

== References ==

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* {{cite book |author=Fleagle |year=1998 |title=Primate Evolution and Adaptation |publisher=Academic Press |isbn=9780080492131}}

[[Category:AnthropoidesPrimates]]

[[Category:Eocene mammals]]

[[Category:Prehistoric apes]]