Multivariate Analysis of the Dryopithecus africanus Forelimb

Abstract

CORRECT interpretation of fossil postcranial remains is crucial to understanding primate phylogeny. This is very apparent in the study of the postcranial remains of the East African Early Miocene hominoid Dryopithecus africanus¹. In 1951 Whitworth discovered a nearly complete forelimb from the Gumba Peninsula, Rusinga Island, Kenya, as part of an association with dental and cranial remains of D. africanus. The deposits date from 19 to 16 m.y.^2,3. Napier and Davies³ concluded that the forelimb of D. africanus showed many features reminiscent of monkeys, for example, colobines and atelines, which supposedly use their forelimbs alone for locomotion a significant amount of the time. They further claimed that “in the absence of a priori evidence as to the probable nature of the fossil remains provided by the associated jaw fragments, it is to be doubted whether there would have been sufficient evidence from the forelimb bones alone to postulate the pongid affinities of D. africanus…”. This view has gained wide acceptance^4–6.