Field Research - Tugen Hills
My fieldwork (begun in collaboration with Andrew Hill, Yale University) in the middle and late Miocene Ngorora Formation of the Tugen Hills, Kenya, aimed to improve our knowledge of hominoid and cercopithecoid evolution during this critical but poorly sampled time period. Terrestrial fossils from this time period are rare, but comparable hominoid-bearing sediments are found in the Siwaliks, in Catalonia, and in West Turkana. Comparisons of the faunas from some of these sites has been undertaken (e.g., Hill et al., 1985), but efforts should be expanded and updated.
My work here is currently a collaboration with Drs. Laura MacLatchy and John Kingston at the University of Michigan, Dr. Susanne Cote at the University of Calgary, and Dr. Job Kibii at the National Museums of Kenya.
Our work in the Ngorora Formation has so far led to the discovery of the smallest known ape, and the earliest colobine monkey.
Microcolobus from Kabasero in the Ngorora Fm. The oldest colobine fossil known.
Rossie, J. B., Gilbert, C., and Hill A. (2013) Early cercopithecid monkeys from the Tugen Hills, Kenya. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA. 110: 5818-5822.
Simiolus minutus from the Ngorora Fm. The smallest known ape teeth.
Rossie, J. B., and Hill A. (2018) A new species of Simiolus from the middle Miocene of the Tugen Hills, Kenya. J. Hum. Evol. 125: 50-58.
From New York Times column Trilobites:
Team 2006 at Kabasero