Dendropithecidae

Dendropithecidae
Temporal range: 27–7 Ma
Dentition of Dendropithecus macinnesi
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Infraorder: Simiiformes
Parvorder: Catarrhini
Superfamily: Hominoidea
Family: †Dendropithecidae
Harrison, 2002
Genera

†Dendropithecus
†Simiolus
†Nyanzapithecinae
†Micropithecus

The family Dendropithecidae is an extinct family of catarrhine apes. They date from the Early Miocene, around 20-12 million years ago.

Fossils of the two Dendropithecus species, Dendropithecus macinnesi and Dendropithecus ugandensis, have been found in East Africa, including several partial skeletons of Dendropithecus macinnesi on Rusinga Island in Lake Victoria. Other species are Simiolus andrewsi, Simiolus cheptumoae, Simiolus enjiessi.

Micropithecus clarki and Micropithecus leakeyorum may not be part Dendropithecidae, and may be sister to the crown Catarrhini (or, depending on the definition, the apes and the Cercopithecidae may have emerged in the Dendropithecidae).

The later Nyanzapithecinae (including Oreopithecus († 7 Ma)) appear to be sister to Simiolus.

Description

The taxa included in Dendropithecidae possess various traits, These include:

upper and lower canines strongly bilaterally compressed, a P3 moderately to strongly specialized for sectoriality, slender limb bones, a humerus with a relatively straight shaft, a large and medially directed medial epicondyle of the humerus, a well-developed epitrochlear fossa, a broad and shallow zona conoidea, minimal spooling of the trochlear articular surface, and a shallow olecranon fossa.

Micropithecus appears to be sister to the crown catarrhini.

Locomotion

The postcranial anatomy of Dendropithecus macinnesi has been used to investigate the locomotor adaptations of early Miocene catarrhines. Its limb bones have been interpreted as evidence of arboreal locomotion, including suspensory behaviour. The anatomy of Dendropithecus has also been compared with that of early hominoids and living gibbons, although similarities in locomotion do not necessarily indicate a close evolutionary relationship.

Classification and phylogeny

The evolutionary relationships among early Miocene catarrhines remain debated. The classification proposed by Harrison in 2002 grouped several primitive catarrhines within Dendropithecidae, but the placement of individual genera has varied between analyses.

The position of Micropithecus is uncertain. Rasmussen et al. (2019) discussed the relationships of primitive catarrhines in the context of the evolution of Old World monkeys and noted that the placement of these early taxa affects interpretations of catarrhine evolution. The relationship between Simiolus and Nyanzapithecinae has also been considered in studies of Miocene primate diversity.

Crown Catarrhini

References

  1. 1 2 Harrison T (2013). "Catarrhine Origins". In Begun DR (ed.). A Companion To Paleoanthropology. Wiley Blackwell. pp. 376–396. ISBN 978-1-118-33237-5.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Rasmussen DT, Friscia AR, Gutierrez M, Kappelman J, Miller ER, Muteti S, et al. (March 2019). "Primitive Old World monkey from the earliest Miocene of Kenya and the evolution of cercopithecoid bilophodonty". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 116 (13): 6051–6056. Bibcode:2019PNAS..116.6051R. doi:10.1073/pnas.1815423116. PMC 6442627. PMID 30858323.
  3. 1 2 Nengo, Isaiah; Tafforeau, Paul; Gilbert, Christopher C.; Fleagle, John G.; Miller, Ellen R.; Feibel, Craig; Fox, David L.; Feinberg, Josh; Pugh, Kelsey D. (2017). "New infant cranium from the African Miocene sheds light on ape evolution" (PDF). Nature. 548 (7666): 169–174. Bibcode:2017Natur.548..169N. doi:10.1038/nature23456. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 28796200. S2CID 4397839.
  4. 1 2 Harrison T (2002). "Late Oligocene to middle Miocene catarrhines from Afro-Arabia". In Hartwig WC (ed.). The Primate Fossil Record. Cambridge University Press. pp. 311–338. Bibcode:2002prfr.book.....H.
  5. ↑ Andrews, P.; Simons, E. (1977). "A new African Miocene gibbon-like genus, Dendropithecus (Hominoidea, Primates) with distinctive postcranial adaptations: its significance to origin of Hylobatidae". Folia Primatologica. 28 (3): 161–169. doi:10.1159/000155807.