The family Dendropithecidae is an extinct family of

catarrhine 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 ...

monkeys. They date from the Early

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 ...

, 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 Rusinga Island, with an elongated shape approximately 10 miles (16 km) from end to end and 3 miles (5 km) at its widest point, lies in the eastern part of Lake Victoria at the mouth of the Winam Gulf. Part of Kenya, it is linked to Mbita ...

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 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 ...

(or, depending on the definition, the apes and the Cercopithecidae may have emerged in the Dendropithecidae). The later Nyanzapithecinae (including ''

Oreopithecus ''Oreopithecus'' (from the Greek , and , , meaning "hill-ape") is an extinct genus of hominoid primate from the Miocene epoch whose fossils have been found in today's Tuscany and Sardinia in Italy. It existed nine to seven million years ago in ...

(''† 7 Ma)) appear to be sister to '' Simiolus''.

Description

The taxa included in Dendropithecidae, possess the following traits: * 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 ''Micropithecus'' appears to be sister to the crown catarrhini.

References

Miocene primates Pliocene primates Miocene extinctions Prehistoric apes Primate families Prehistoric mammal families {{paleo-primate-stub