Ishida Hidemi, Kunimatsu Yutaka, Takano Tomo, Nakano Yoshihiko, Nakatsukasa Masato
Department of Human Nursing, University of Shiga Prefecture, Hikone, Shiga 5228533, Japan.
J Hum Evol. 2004 Jan;46(1):69-103. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2003.10.001.
An almost entire skeleton of a male individual of Nacholapithecus kerioi (KNM-BG 35250) was discovered from Middle Miocene (approximately 15 Ma) sediments at Nachola, northern Kenya. N. kerioi exhibits a shared derived subnasal morphology with living apes. In many postcranial features, such as articular shape, as well as the number of the lumbar vertebrae, N. kerioi resembles Proconsul heseloni and/or P. nyanzae, and lacks suspensory specializations characteristic of living apes. Similarly, N. kerioi shares some postcranial characters with Kenyapithecus spp. However, despite the resemblance, N. kerioi and Proconsul spp. are quite different in their body proportions and some joint morphologies. N. kerioi has proportionally large forelimb bones and long pedal digits compared to its hindlimb bones and lumbar vertebrae. Its distinctive body proportions suggest that N. kerioi was more derived for forelimb dominated arboreal activities than P. nyanzae and P. heseloni. On the other hand, it exhibits a mixture of derived and primitive cranio-dental and postcranial features relative to the contemporaneous Kenyapithecus and Early MioceneMorotopithecus. While the phylogenetic position of N. kerioi is unsettled, it seems necessary to posit parallel evolution of cranio-dental and/or postcranial features in fossil and living apes.
在肯尼亚北部纳乔拉的中中新世（约1500万年前）沉积物中发现了一具近乎完整的纳氏肯尼亚古猿（KNM - BG 35250）雄性个体骨骼。纳氏肯尼亚古猿与现存猿类具有共同的衍生鼻下形态。在许多颅后特征方面，如关节形状以及腰椎数量，纳氏肯尼亚古猿类似于赫氏原康修尔猿和/或尼亚萨原康修尔猿，并且缺乏现存猿类特有的悬吊特化特征。同样，纳氏肯尼亚古猿与肯尼亚古猿属也有一些颅后特征相同。然而，尽管存在相似之处，纳氏肯尼亚古猿和原康修尔猿属在身体比例和一些关节形态上有很大差异。与后肢骨骼和腰椎相比，纳氏肯尼亚古猿的前肢骨骼比例较大，足趾较长。其独特的身体比例表明，相较于尼亚萨原康修尔猿和赫氏原康修尔猿，纳氏肯尼亚古猿在前肢主导的树栖活动方面更为特化。另一方面，相对于同期的肯尼亚古猿和早中新世的莫罗托猿，它在颅齿和颅后特征上呈现出衍生特征与原始特征的混合。虽然纳氏肯尼亚古猿的系统发育位置尚未确定，但似乎有必要假定化石猿类和现存猿类的颅齿和/或颅后特征存在平行演化。
