| Simiolus Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Suborder: | Haplorhini |
| Infraorder: | Simiiformes |
| Family: | †Dendropithecidae |
| Genus: | †Simiolus Leakey & Leakey, 1987 |
Simiolus is an extinct genus of dendropithecid primates. It was described by Mary Leakey and Richard Leakey in 1987, and the type species is S. enjiessi, which existed during the Miocene of Kenya. The species epithet is a phonetic pun on the acronym NGS.[1] A new species, S. andrewsi, also from the middle Miocene of Kenya, was described by Terry Harrison in 2010.[2] In November 2018, scientists reported the discovery of the smallest known ape, Simiolus minutus, which weighed approximately 8 lb (3.6 kg), and lived about 12.5 million years ago in Kenya in East Africa.[3][4]
- ^ Page 182, The ape in the tree: an intellectual & natural history of Proconsul, by Alan Walker, Pat Shipman. Harvard University Press, 2005. ISBN 0674016750/ISBN 9780674016750
- ^ Harrison, Terry (2010). "Chapter 24: Dendropithecoidea, Proconsuloidea, and Hominoidea (Catarrhini, Primates)". In Werdelin, L.; Sanders, W.J. Cenozoic Mammals of Africa. University of California Press. pp. 429–469. ISBN 978-0-520-25721-4.
- ^ St. Fleur, Nicholas (5 November 2018). "Tiniest Ape Ever Discovered Hints at the Rise of the Monkeys - The newly identified extinct primate weighed slightly less than an average house cat". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
- ^ James B. Rossie; Andrew Hill (2018). "A new species of Simiolus from the middle Miocene of the Tugen Hills, Kenya". Journal of Human Evolution. 125: 50–58. Bibcode:2018JHumE.125...50R. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.09.002. PMID 30502897. S2CID 54625375.