Branisella

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Branisella
Temporal range: Late Oligocene (Deseadan)
~26  Ma
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Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Suborder: Haplorhini
Infraorder: Simiiformes
Family: Cebidae
(see text) [1]
Subfamily:† Branisellinae
(see text) [1]
Genus:† Branisella
Type species
†Branisella boliviana

Branisella is an extinct genus of New World monkey from the Salla Formation of what is now Bolivia during the Late Oligocene, approximately 26 million years ago (Deseadan), comprising only the species Branisella boliviana. [2] [3] Together with the Peruvian genus Canaanimico , it is the oldest fossil New World monkey discovered.

Contents

Classification

Within platyrrhines, this taxon has been interpreted as either a stem platyrrhine not related to any of the living forms, or as a primitive callitrichine. One analysis shows it is sister to the clade of all non-pitheciids and should remain incertae sedis . [1] As Branisella is currently the only South American primate taxon known until the Miocene, more fossils are needed before its phylogenetic position can be clearly established.

Description

It was found in Bolivia by the paleontologist Leonardo Branisa, and it was named after him by Hoffstetter, the scientist who first described and classified it in 1969. [4] Morphologically, it is similar to Proteropithecus , an Oligocene primate from Africa, in its reduced upper second premolar and unreduced lower second premolar. This suggests the primitive platyrrhine ancestors of Branisella came to South America from Africa. Other features, however, suggest that it may have been related to the omomyids, an extinct group of tarsier-like primates found in North America, among other places. [5]

Branisella has an estimated body mass of 1,000 g (35 oz). [1] The cheek teeth of Branisella are very high-crowned, suggesting that it might have been somewhat terrestrial, [6] although this hypothesis cannot be confirmed from bones of the postcranial skeleton (there are none). The known dental specimens show extremely heavy and rapid wear and the first molar tooth is far more worn than the last, suggesting that it included abrasive foods in its diet with very poorly developed cutting edges indicating a diet of fruit. [6] One specimen retains a small part of the orbit and indicates that Branisella had small eyes and was diurnal.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cebidae</span> Family of New World monkeys

The Cebidae are one of the five families of New World monkeys now recognised. Extant members are the capuchin and squirrel monkeys. These species are found throughout tropical and subtropical South and Central America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catarrhini</span> Group of Old World monkeys and apes

The parvorder Catarrhini, catarrhine monkeys, Old World anthropoids, or Old World monkeys, consisting of the Cercopithecoidea and apes (Hominoidea). In 1812, Geoffroy grouped those two groups together and established the name Catarrhini, "Old World monkeys",. Its sister in the Simiiformes infraorder is the Platyrrhini. There has been some resistance to directly designate apes as monkeys despite the scientific evidence, so "Old World monkey" may be taken to mean the Cercopithecoidea or the Catarrhini. That apes are monkeys was already realized by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in the 18th century. Linnaeus placed this group in 1758 together with what we now recognise as the tarsiers and the New World monkeys, in a single genus "Simia". The Catarrhini are all native to Africa and Asia. Members of this parvorder are called catarrhines.

<i>Paralouatta</i> Extinct genus of new world monkeys

Paralouatta is a platyrrhine genus that currently contains two extinct species of small primates that lived on the island of Cuba.

Rooneyia viejaensis is a relatively small primate belonging to the extinct monotypic genus Rooneyia. Rooneyia viejaensis is known from the North American Eocene of the Sierra Vieja of West Texas; the species is only known from the type specimen. The lack of additional fossils at this time makes it difficult to hypothesize where and how Rooneyia may have evolved. The minimal wear upon the molar teeth of the specimen has led to the assumption that the type specimen is that of a young adult. Rooneyia does not consistently fall within any one group of fossil or extant primates.

Solimoea acrensis is a prehistoric ateline monkey from the Late Miocene Solimões Formation of Brazil. It is the only known species of the genus Solimoea.

Parapithecidae is an extinct family of primates which lived in the Eocene and Oligocene periods in Egypt. Eocene fossils from Myanmar are sometimes included in the family in addition. They showed certain similarities in dentition to Condylarthra, but had short faces and jaws shaped like those of tarsiers. They are part of the superfamily Parapithecoidea, perhaps equally related to Ceboidea and Cercopithecoidea plus Hominoidea - but the placement of Parapithecoidea is substantially uncertain.

Aotus dindensis is an extinct species of New World monkeys in the genus Aotus from the Middle Miocene. Its remains have been found at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte of La Venta in the Honda Group of Colombia.

Nuciruptor is an extinct genus of New World monkeys from the Middle Miocene. Its remains have been found at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte of La Venta in the Honda Group of Colombia. The type species is N. rubricae.

<i>Colombitherium</i>

Colombitherium is an extinct mammal from Late Eocene Colombia. It has originally been assigned to the order Pyrotheria and the family Colombitheriidae, although a later detailed analysis of the fossil questions that classification. A fossil jawbone of approximately 9 centimetres (3.5 in) length of Colombitherium has been found by Texas Petroleum in 1945, in the Upper Eocene strata of the middle Gualanday Group in the department of Tolima, Central Ranges of the Colombian Andes.

<i>Cebupithecia</i> Single-species extinct genus of monkeys

Cebupithecia is an extinct genus of New World monkeys from the Middle Miocene. Its remains have been found at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte of La Venta in the Honda Group of Colombia. The type species is C. sarmientoi.

Lagonimico is an extinct genus of New World monkeys from the Middle Miocene. Its remains have been found at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte of La Venta in the Honda Group of Colombia. The type species is L. conclucatus.

Micodon is an extinct genus of New World monkeys from the Middle Miocene. Its remains have been found at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte of La Venta in the Honda Group of Colombia. The type species is M. kiotensis, a very small monkey among the New World species.

Miocallicebus is an extinct genus of New World monkeys from the Middle Miocene. Its remains have been found at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte of La Venta in the Honda Group of Colombia. The type species is M. villaviejai.

Mohanamico is an extinct genus of New World monkeys from the Middle Miocene. Its remains have been found at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte of La Venta in the Honda Group of Colombia. The type species is M. hershkovitzi. Due to the relatively few material found of Mohanamico, the placement of the genus is not certain and four possible families have been proposed by different authors, Atelidae, Callitrichidae, Pitheciidae or Aotidae.

Patasola is an extinct genus of New World monkeys from the Middle Miocene. Its remains have been found at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte of La Venta in the Honda Group of Colombia. The type species is Patasola magdalenae.

Saimiri annectens, originally described as Laventiana annectens and later as Neosaimiri annectens, is an extinct species of New World monkey in the genus Saimiri from the Middle Miocene. Its remains have been found at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte of La Venta in the Honda Group of Colombia.

Saimiri fieldsi is an extinct species of New World monkey in the genus Saimiri from the Middle Miocene. Its remains have been found at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte of La Venta in the Honda Group of Colombia.

Canaanimico is an extinct genus of medium-sized New World monkeys from the Late Oligocene fossiliferous fluvio-lacustrine Chambira Formation of the Ucayali Basin in Amazonian Peru. The genus was described by Marivaux et al. in 2016 and the type species is C. amazonensis.

Paraborhyaena is an extinct genus of Sparassodont, belonging to the family Proborhyaenidae. It was one of the large terrestrial predators that roamed South America during the Oligocene.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Silvestro, Daniele; Marcelo F. Tejedor; Martha L. Serrano Serrano; Oriane Loiseau; Victor Rossier; Jonathan Rolland; Alexander Zizka; Alexandre Antonelli, and Nicolas Salamin. 2017. Evolutionary history of New World monkeys revealed by molecular and fossil data. BioRxiv _. 1–32. Accessed 2019-02-20.
  2. ↑ Branisella at Fossilworks.org
  3. ↑ Takai, M; et al. (February 2000). "New fossil materials of the earliest new world monkey, Branisella bolivians, and the problem of platyrrhine origins". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 111 (2): 263–81. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1096-8644(200002)111:2<263::AID-AJPA10>3.0.CO;2-6. PMID   10640951.
  4. ↑ Hoffstetter MR (1969). "Un primate de l'Pliocène inférieur sudamericain: Branisella boliviana gen. et sp. nov". C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris (in French). 269: 434–437.
  5. ↑ Palmer, D., ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 288. ISBN   978-1-84028-152-1.
  6. 1 2 Kay, R.F.; Williams, B.A.; Anaya, F. (2001). "The adaptations of Branisella boliviana, the earliest South American monkey". In Plavcan, J.M.; van Schaik, C.; Kay, R.F.; Jungers, W.L. (eds.). Reconstructing Behavior in the Primate Fossil Record. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. pp. 339–370.
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