Dendropithecidae

The family Dendropithecidae is an extinct family of basal Hominoidea (the apes). They date from the Early Miocene, around 20 - 12 million years ago.[1][2]

Dendropithecidae
Temporal range: Early Miocene–Late Miocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Suborder: Haplorhini
Infraorder: Simiiformes
Parvorder: Catarrhini
Superfamily: Hominoidea
Family: †Dendropithecidae
Harrison, 2002
Genera

†Dendropithecus
†Simiolus
†Nyanzapithecinae
†Micropithecus (?)

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.[1] 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).[2] The later Nyanzapithecinae (including Oreopithecus († 7 Ma)[3]) appear to be sister to Simiolus.[2]

Crown Catarrhini
 

Cercopithecoidea

 
Hominoidea
Dendropithecidae
 

Dendropithecus

 
 
 

Simiolus

 
Nyanzapithecinae
 

Turkanapithecus

 
 
 

Rangwapithecus

 
 
 
 

Oreopithecus

 
 

Rukwapithecus

 
 
 

Nyanzapithecus

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

advanced Hominoidea

 
 
 

Description

The taxa included in Dendropithecidae, possess the following traits:[4]

  • Upper and lower canines strongly bilaterally compressed
  • P3 moderately to strongly specialized for sectoriality
  • Slender limb bones
  • Humerus with a relatively straight shaft
  • Medial epicondyle of the humerus is large and medially directed
  • Epitrochlear fossa is well developed
  • Zona conoidea is broad and shallow
  • Trochlear articular surface exhibits minimal spooling
  • Olecranon fossa is shallow

Upon creating this designation, Harrison[4] noted that many of the characters that unite the clade may be primitive for catarrhines, allowing for the possibility that the dendropithecoids are a paraphyletic group.

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References
  1. Harrison T (2013). "Catarrhine Origins". In Begun DR (ed.). A Companion To Paleoanthropology. Wiley Blackwell. pp. 376–396. ISBN 978-1-118-33237-5. Archived from the original on 2013.
  2. 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. doi:10.1073/pnas.1815423116. PMC 6442627. PMID 30858323.
  3. 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". Nature. 548 (7666): 169–174. doi:10.1038/nature23456. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 28796200.
  4. 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.
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