“Hominoid clavicle” from Sahabi is actually a fragment of cetacean rib
- 1 June 1983
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in American Journal of Physical Anthropology
- Vol. 61 (2) , 239-244
- https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.1330610213
Abstract
A late Miocene/early Pliocene mammalian fossil from the site of Sahabi, Libya, was identified in previous publications as a clavicle belonging to the superfamily Hominoidea. After studying both a cast of the specimen and previously published descriptions and photographs we have concluded that the fossil is not a clavicle, but a rib fragment. In addition, our study demonstrates beyond reasonable doubt that this rib belongs not to a primate, but to a marine mammal. Following comparisons with 19 species in 14 genera of marine mammals, as well as six hominoid and three cercopithecoid species, both modern and fossil, we conclude that the specimen is best attributed to the Odontoceti, the cetacean suborder containing dolphins and porpoises. The rib indicates an animal in the size range of Recent Tursiops or Lagenorhynchus.Keywords
This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
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- New fossil finds from the Libyan Upper Neogene site of SahabiNature, 1979
- Outline of Eastern North Pacific Fossil Cetacean AssemblagesSystematic Zoology, 1976
- Recherches sur les ossemens fossiles : où l'on rétablit les caractères de plusieurs animaux dont les révolutions du globe ont détruit les espèces / par Georges Cuvier.Published by Smithsonian Institution ,1834