Fauna from a new lower Miocene locality west of Lake Turkana, Kenya

Abstract

A new Lower Miocene locality at Locherangan in northwestern Kenya has yielded over 300 specimens representing at least 13 mammalian species. The faunal assemblage includes at least two hominoid species and an array of ungulate taxa that suggest the existence of a mixed habitat. The strata at Locherangan are 49.1 m of lacustrine clays and mudstones. Two tuffaceous units near the middle of the sequence underlie the fossil bearing horizon. Anorthoclase from the upper tuff has yielded a potassium-argon date of 17.5 ± 0.3 Ma.