Kamoyapithecus hamiltoni

Kamoyapithecus ('Kamoya' + Greek - “ape”) was a primate that lived in Africa during the late Oligocene period, about 27.5-24.2 million years ago. First found in 1948 as part of a University of California, Berkeley expedition, it was at first thought to be under a form of Proconsul by C.T. Madden in 1980, but after a re-examination by Meave Leakey and associates later, the fossils were moved under a new genus Kamoyapithecus, named after the renowned fossil finder Kamoya Kimeu. The genus is represented by only one species, K. hamiltoni.

==Morphology== Kamoyapithecus is known exclusively by its teeth and jaws. The type specimen, KNM-LS 7, was a right maxillary jaw fragment found during the expedition in 1948. Through this fossil as well as more recent fragments of mandibles and teeth, it has been found that Kamoyapithecus had very large and robust canines. The canines appear to have a distinctive tip that links Kamoyapithecus with hominoid genus Proconsul.