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Remarks on the phyletic position ofKenyapithecus

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Abstract

This brief article calls the attention on the significance for the study of human evolution of the evidence recently uncovered by Dr. L. S. B. Leakey and named by himKenyapithecus. It is argued thatKenyapithecus is best interpreted as a representative of the rich variety of forms characteristic of the hominid (and hominoid) adaptive radiation in Miocene times.Kenyapithecus does not have to be interpreted necessarily as a remote ancestor of man, since some of the features of that form make it difficult to consider it as ancestral to the Australopithecines and since, on the other hand, the many features shared byKenyapithecus andHomo may result from parallel evolution.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan

    John E. Frisch

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  1. John E. Frisch
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Frisch, J.E. Remarks on the phyletic position ofKenyapithecus . Primates 8, 121–126 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01772156

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01772156

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