Department of Earth Sciences, National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya.
Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, 75275, USA; Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, 75390, USA.
J Hum Evol. 2020 Mar;140:102694. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.102694. Epub 2019 Nov 20.
Excavations at Kanapoi in north-western Kenya have yielded the most numerically abundant and taxonomically diverse early Pliocene (4.19 Ma) terrestrial small mammal assemblage known from Kenya. A minimum of 15 species are reported, including soricids, sengis, leporids, and rodents: all taxa are referable to extant genera, with the exception of the murine rodent, Saidomys. The majority of the terrestrial small mammals are derived from a bone bed at Nzube's Mandible Site, closely associated with the holotype mandible of Australopithecus anamensis. A smaller number were surface-collected or obtained from screening at several other sites, including the Bat Site. Most small mammals from Nzube's Mandible Site and the Bat Site likely represent prey accumulated as regurgitated pellets from owls, in particular barn owls or giant eagle owls. The small mammal fauna is dominated by the spiny mouse, Acomys: the next most commonly recovered taxa are the multimammate mouse, Mastomys, and the African gerbil, Gerbilliscus. Comparisons of the Kanapoi fauna to other eastern African late Miocene-Pliocene (and one Pleistocene) faunas at the generic level suggest the greatest similarity is to Lemudong'o, Kenya, and Omo B and Aramis, Ethiopia. Further similarities with other localities such as Laetoli, Tanzania, and Hadar, Ethiopia, suggest the existence of a corridor for dispersal along the East African Rift Valley between Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania in the early Pliocene. Further comparisons of the relative abundances of individuals in different families (or subfamilies) emphasize the distinctiveness of the Kanapoi small mammal fauna. The Kanapoi fauna is likely derived from a heterogeneous but relatively arid environment.
在肯尼亚西北部的 Kanapoi 进行的挖掘工作，提供了肯尼亚已知的最具数量丰富且分类多样的早更新世（4.19 Ma）陆生小型哺乳动物组合。报告了至少 15 个物种，包括鼩鼱、穿山甲、兔形目和啮齿目：所有分类群都可归属于现存属，除了鼠科的 Saidomys 外。大多数陆生小型哺乳动物都来自 Nzube 的下颌骨地点的一个骨床，与南方古猿 anamensis 的正型下颌骨密切相关。还有一小部分是在其他几个地点（包括蝙蝠地点）通过表面采集或筛选获得的。Nzube 的下颌骨地点和蝙蝠地点的大多数小型哺乳动物可能代表了从猫头鹰，特别是仓鸮或雕鸮中反刍出来的作为呕吐物的猎物。小型哺乳动物群主要由刺鼠 Acomys 主导：其次最常见的回收分类群是多齿鼠 Mastomys 和非洲沙鼠 Gerbilliscus。将 Kanapoi 动物群与其他东非晚中新世-更新世（和一个更新世）动物群在属级水平上进行比较，表明与肯尼亚 Lemudong'o 和埃塞俄比亚的 Omo B 和 Aramis 最相似。与其他地点如坦桑尼亚的 Laetoli 和埃塞俄比亚的 Hadar 的进一步相似性表明，在早更新世期间，沿东非大裂谷从埃塞俄比亚、肯尼亚和坦桑尼亚之间存在一条扩散走廊。进一步比较不同科（或亚科）个体的相对丰度，强调了 Kanapoi 小型哺乳动物群的独特性。Kanapoi 动物群可能源自一个异质但相对干旱的环境。
