McNulty Kieran P, Begun David R, Kelley Jay, Manthi Fredrick K, Mbua Emma N
Evolutionary Anthropology Laboratory, University of Minnesota, 395 Hubert H. Humphrey Center, 301 19th Avenue S., Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 2S2, Canada.
J Hum Evol. 2015 Jul;84:42-61. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.03.009. Epub 2015 May 9.
For more than 80 years, Proconsul has held a pivotal position in interpretations of catarrhine evolution and hominoid diversification in East Africa. The majority of what we 'know' about Proconsul, however, derives from abundant younger fossils found at the Kisingiri localities on Rusinga and Mfangano Islands rather than from the smaller samples found at Koru--the locality of the type species, Proconsul africanus--and other Tinderet deposits. One outcome of this is seen in recent attempts to expand the genus "Ugandapithecus" (considered here a junior subjective synonym of Proconsul), wherein much of the Tinderet sample was referred to that genus based primarily on differentiating it from the Kisingiri specimens rather than from the type species, P. africanus. This and other recent taxonomic revisions to Proconsul prompted us to undertake a systematic review of dentognathic specimens attributed to this taxon. Results of our study underscore and extend the substantive distinction of Tinderet and Ugandan Proconsul (i.e., Proconsul sensu stricto) from the Kisingiri fossils, the latter recognized here as a new genus. Specimens of the new genus are readily distinguished from Proconsul sensu stricto by morphology preserved in the P. africanus holotype, but also in I(1)s, lower incisors, upper and lower canines, and especially mandibular characteristics. A number of these differences are more advanced among Kisingiri specimens in the direction of crown hominoids. Proconsul sensu stricto is characterized by a suite of unique features that strongly unite the included species as a clade. There have been decades of contentious debate over the phylogenetic placement of Proconsul (sensu lato), due in part to there being a mixture of primitive and more advanced morphology within the single genus. By recognizing two distinct clades that, in large part, segregate these character states, we believe that better phylogenetic resolution can be achieved.
八十多年来，原康修尔猿在东非狭鼻猴类进化和类人猿多样化的解释中一直占据着关键地位。然而，我们对原康修尔猿 “所知” 的大部分内容，都来自于在鲁辛加岛和姆方加诺岛的基辛吉里地区发现的丰富的较年轻化石，而非来自在科鲁（模式种非洲原康修尔猿的产地）以及其他廷代雷特沉积物中发现的较小样本。这一情况的一个结果体现在最近试图扩大 “乌干达古猿” 属（在此被视为原康修尔猿的次主观同物异名）的尝试中，其中廷代雷特样本的很大一部分被归入该属，主要是基于将其与基辛吉里标本区分开来，而非与模式种非洲原康修尔猿区分开来。原康修尔猿的这一分类以及其他近期的分类修订促使我们对归属于该分类单元的牙颌标本进行系统回顾。我们的研究结果强调并扩展了廷代雷特和乌干达原康修尔猿（即狭义的原康修尔猿）与基辛吉里化石之间的实质性区别，后者在此被认定为一个新属。新属的标本很容易通过非洲原康修尔猿模式标本中保存的形态特征区分开来，也可通过上门齿、下门齿、上下犬齿，尤其是下颌特征区分开来。在朝着冠类人猿的方向上，基辛吉里标本中的许多这些差异更为显著。狭义的原康修尔猿具有一系列独特特征，这些特征有力地将所包含的物种统一为一个进化枝。关于原康修尔猿（广义）的系统发育位置，已经有几十年的激烈争论，部分原因是在单一属内存在原始形态和更高级形态的混合。通过识别两个在很大程度上分离这些特征状态的不同进化枝，我们相信可以实现更好的系统发育分辨率。
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