''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
NGS may refer to:
Places
* NGSO (NGS orbit), non-geostationary orbit
* Nagasaki Airport (IATA airport code: NGS) in Omura, Nagasaki, Japan
Organisations
* National Galleries of Scotland, representing the national art collection of Scotland
* Na ...
.
[Page 182, ''The ape in the tree: an intellectual & natural history of Proconsul'', by Alan Walker, Pat Shipman. Harvard University Press, 2005. /] A new species, ''S. andrewsi'', also from the middle Miocene of Kenya, was described by Terry Harrison in 2010.
[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. .] In November 2018, scientists reported the discovery of the smallest known
ape, ''Simiolus minutus'', which weighed approximately eight pounds, and lived about 12.5 million years ago in
Kenya in
East Africa
East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa:
Due to the historical ...
.
Species
* ''Simiolus enjiessi''
Leakey & Leakey, 1987
* ''Simiolus leakeyorum''
* ''Simiolus cheptumoae''
Pickford & Kunimatsu, 2005
* ''Simiolus andrewsi''
Harrison, 2010
* ''Simiolus minutus''
Rossie & Hill, 2018
Notes
References
Miocene primates of Africa
Miocene mammals of Africa
Prehistoric primate genera
Fossil taxa described in 1987
{{paleo-primate-stub