Currano, Ellen D.

Feibel, Craig

Fox, David L.

Miller, Ellen R.

Nengo, Isaiah O.

Rae, Todd

Compared to the Early Miocene or Plio-Pleistocene, the Middle Miocene of Africa is relatively poorly known, although it may contain several key transitions in the evolution of catarrhine primates. Palaeoanthropological survey in the late 20th century revealed deposits from this time period in the Napudet Hills of thewestern Turkana Basin, from which fossils (including a primate canine) were recovered. An international team has since conducted two seasons of fieldwork in these sediments, revealing additional vertebrate and palaeobotanical remains.The beds consist primarily of pyroclastics from a nearby, extinct volcano. Preliminary geological work suggests that the fossils lie above a columnar basalt previously dated to 12.8 Ma, and are overlain by another, as yet undated, basalt. The exposures preserve ~100 fossil trees, a substantial proportion of which are upright and in situ, as well as some poorly preserved leaves. The recent fieldwork has yielded a vertebrate fauna including carnivorans, girrafoids, hippopotamids, proboscideans, suids, tragulids, rhinoceroids, rodents and primates. Associated remains of individuals for some of the larger taxa have been discovered. In addition to expanding the known geographic range of the Middle Miocene to northern Kenya, the palaeoenvironmental information and partial skeletons of Napudet offer the potential to increase our knowledge of this elusive period inprimate evolution substantially.Supported by grants from the Leakey Foundation, National Geographic Society,DeAnza College and the Primate Society of Great Britain

New palaeontological discoveries from the Middle Miocene site of Napudet, west Turkana, Kenya

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