''Branisella'' is an extinct

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

New World monkey New World monkeys are the five families of primates that are found in the tropical regions of Mexico, Central and South America: Callitrichidae, Cebidae, Aotidae, Pitheciidae, and Atelidae. The five families are ranked together as the Ceboi ...

from the

Salla Formation Salla, known as Kuolajärvi until 1936, is a municipality of Finland, located in Lapland. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The nearby settlement of Sallatunturi is ...

of what is now

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

during the

Late Oligocene The Chattian is, in the geologic timescale The geologic time scale or geological time scale (GTS) is a representation of time based on the rock record of Earth. It is a system of chronological dating that uses chronostratigraphy (the pro ...

, approximately 26 million years ago (

Deseadan The Deseadan () age is a period of geologic time (29.0–21.0 Ma) within the Oligocene epoch of the Paleogene to the Early Miocene epoch of the Neogene, used more specifically within the SALMA classification of South America. It follows the Tingu ...

), comprising only the species ''Branisella boliviana''.''Branisella''
at

Fossilworks Fossilworks was a portal which provides query, download, and analysis tools to facilitate access to the Paleobiology Database, a large relational database assembled by hundreds of paleontologists from around the world. History Fossilworks was cr ...

.org Together with the Peruvian genus ''

Canaanimico ''Canaanimico'' is an extinct genus of medium-sized New World monkeys from the Late Oligocene (approximately 26.5 Ma, Deseadan in the SALMA classification) fossiliferous fluvio-lacustrine Chambira Formation of the Ucayali Basin in Amazonian P ...

'', it is the oldest fossil New World monkey discovered.

Classification

Within

platyrrhine New World monkeys are the five families of primates that are found in the tropical regions of Mexico, Central and South America: Callitrichidae, Cebidae, Aotidae, Pitheciidae, and Atelidae. The five families are ranked together as the Ceboi ...

s, 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 or is a term used for a taxonomy (biology), taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertainty ...

''. As ''Branisella'' is currently the only South American primate taxon known until the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

, more fossils are needed before its phylogenetic position can be clearly established.

Description

It was found in Bolivia by the paleontologist

Leonardo Branisa Leonardo or The Leonardo may refer to: Arts and entertainment * '' Leonardo Journal'', an arts journal * ''Leonardo'' (Italian magazine), a philosophy magazine published in Florence, Italy, in 1903–1907 * ''Leonardo'' (journal), published b ...

, and it was named after him by Hoffstetter, the scientist who first described and classified it in 1969. 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

omomyid Omomyidae is a group of early primates that radiated during the Eocene epoch between about (mya). Fossil omomyids are found in North America, Europe & Asia, making it one of two groups of Eocene primates with a geographic distribution spanning ...

s, an extinct group of

tarsier Tarsiers ( ) are haplorhine primates of the family Tarsiidae, which is the lone extant family within the infraorder Tarsiiformes. Although the group was prehistorically more globally widespread, all of the existing species are restricted to M ...

-like primates found in North America, among other places. ''Branisella'' has an estimated body mass of . The cheek teeth of ''Branisella'' are very high-crowned, suggesting that it might have been somewhat terrestrial, 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. One specimen retains a small part of the orbit and indicates that ''Branisella'' had small eyes and was diurnal.

References

External links

Mikko's Phylogeny Archive

FOSILBOL / PRIMATES
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q18156100, from2=Q898567

† A dagger, obelisk, or obelus is a typographical mark that usually indicates a footnote if an asterisk has already been used. The symbol is also used to indicate death (of people) or extinction (of species or languages). It is one of the mo ...

Monotypic prehistoric primate genera Prehistoric monkeys Oligocene primates of South America Deseadan Chattian life Paleogene Bolivia Fossils of Bolivia Fossil taxa described in 1969 Taxa named by Robert Hoffstetter