Analysis of Miocene Hominoid Postcranial Bones

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During the Miocene Epoch, 5-24 million years ago, there was an extensive radiation of hominoid primates in the Eastern Hemisphere. Their relationships with each other and with extant taxa are still unclear. Their functional anatomy and locomotor adaptations are clearly different from those of extant primates. This proposal seeks to characterize this radiation by descriptive and functional analyses, and by defining postcranial features by which Miocene taxa may be recognized as hominoids, or as primitive catarrhines. The research will continue the PI's previous studies on Sivapithecus, Kenyapithecus, and the recently discovered Simiolus, Turkanapithecus, and Afropithecus. The study will include studies of recently collected specimens, and on new specimens collected during the proposed research period. Functional analyses will be made of the postcrania of all known small apes from Kenya, comparisons will be made between Miocene catarrhines and platyrrhines, and possible indicators of terrestriality in Miocene hominoids will be explored.