R114 Proconsul site: Burdigalian, Kenya
collected by L. S. B. Leakey 1951, 1984

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Mammalia - Primates
Proconsul heseloni n. sp. Walker et al. 1933
Mammalia - Chiroptera - Molossidae
Tadarida rusingae n. sp. Arroyo-Cabrales et al. 2002
Reptilia - Varanidae
Varanus rusingensis n. sp. Clos 1995
Clos 1995
see common names

Geography
Country:Kenya
Coordinates: 0.3° South, 34.1° East (view map)
Paleocoordinates:1.5° South, 32.0° East
Basis of coordinate:stated in text
Geographic resolution:small collection
Time
Period: Neogene Epoch: Miocene
Stage: Burdigalian 10 m.y. bin: Cenozoic 5
Key time interval: Burdigalian
Age range of interval: 20.44 - 15.98 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Geological group:Rusinga Formation:Kiahera Member:Okowe
Stratigraphic resolution:group of beds
Stratigraphy comments: "Lower Miocene... The [Rusinga] Group itself was probably deposited in less than half a million years, and five Potassium-Argon dates for the Group give a mean age of 17.9 +/- 0.16 Ma (Drake et al., 1988). The Hiwegi Formation and site R114 have not been directly dated."

Michel et al. 2023: One particularly important result from this work is confirmation of R114's position in the Kiahera Formation (Pickford, 1984) instead of the Hiwegi Formation (cf. Van Couvering, 1972;Whitworth, 1953).
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology:tuffaceous,green lithified siltstone
Lithology description: "The infilling green grits are easily differentiated from the surrounding grey tuffaceous flagstones and agglomerates because they are fenetized. Fenite... is commonly found around carbonate volcanic instrustions" "grey tuffaceous siltstone" according to Clos 1995
Environment:"floodplain"
Geology comments: "the infilling of a standing dead, hollow tree trunk. Pyroclastic sediments of the Hiwegi Formation up to several meters in depth were washed around standing trees on the slopes of the ancient volcano of Kisingiri"
sediments were "reworked by shallow, sluggish streams and redeposited in a floodplain environment" according to Clos 1995
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body
Size of fossils:macrofossils
Articulated whole bodies:some
Temporal resolution:snapshot
Spatial resolution:autochthonous
Collection methods and comments
Collection methods:field collection
Reason for describing collection:taxonomic analysis
Collectors:L. S. B. Leakey Collection dates:1951, 1984
Collection method comments: "Leakey broke blocks of rock from the pipe and removed those that had bones showing"
Metadata
Also known as:Kiakanga Hill; Rusinga, R114, Whitworth's Pothole
Database number:84800
Authorizer:J. Alroy Enterer:J. Alroy
Modifier:G. Varnham Research group:vertebrate
Created:2008-11-11 20:57:52 Last modified:2023-04-26 03:56:55
Access level:the public Released:2008-11-11 20:57:52
Creative Commons license:CC BY
Reference information

Primary reference:
28456. J. Arroyo-Cabrales, R. Gregorin, D. A. Schlitter and A. Walker. 2002. The oldest African molossid bat cranium (Chiroptera: Molossidae). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22(2):380-387 [J. Alroy/J. Alroy]

Secondary references:

28457 L. M. Clos. 1995. A new species of Varanus (Reptilia: Sauria) from the Miocene of Kenya. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 15(2):254-267 [J. Alroy/J. Alroy]
84571 L. A. Michel, D. J. Peppe, K. D. Cheng, H. Summers, H. W. Leimer, T. Lehmann, S. Muteti and K. P. McNulty. 2023. Stratigraphic revision of the early Miocene Kiahera Formation from Rusinga Island, Lake Victoria, Kenya. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 200(104877) [J. Head/G. Varnham]