Proconsul (mammal)

Proconsul Temporal range: Miocene, 28.4–11.608 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Proconsul skeleton reconstruction
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Primates
Suborder:	Haplorhini
Infraorder:	Simiiformes
Family:	†Proconsulidae
Subfamily:	†Proconsulinae
Genus:	†Proconsul Hopwood, 1933
Species
Proconsul africanus Proconsul gitongai Proconsul major Proconsul meswae

Proconsul is an extinct genus of primates that existed from 21 to 17 million years ago during the Miocene epoch. Fossil remains are present in Eastern Africa, including Kenya and Uganda. Four species have been classified to date: P. africanus, P. gitongai, P. major and P. meswae. The four species differ mainly in body size. Environmental reconstructions for the Early Miocene Proconsul sites are still tentative and range from forested environments to more open, arid grasslands.

The gibbon and great apes, including humans, are held in evolutionary biology to share a common ancestral lineage, which may have included Proconsul. Its name, meaning "before Consul" (Consul being a certain chimpanzee that, at the time of the genus's discovery, was on display in London), implies that it is ancestral to the chimpanzee. It might also be ancestral to the rest of the apes.