''Parapapio'' is a

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 ...

prehistoric Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

baboon Baboons are primates comprising the biology, genus ''Papio'', one of the 23 genera of Old World monkeys, in the family Cercopithecidae. There are six species of baboon: the hamadryas baboon, the Guinea baboon, the olive baboon, the yellow ba ...

s closely resembling the forest-dwelling

mangabey Mangabeys are West African Old World monkeys, with species in three of the six genera of tribe Papionini. The more typical representatives of '' Cercocebus'', also known as the white-eyelid mangabeys, are characterized by their bare, upper eyel ...

s. ''Parapapio'' is distinguished from other '' Papio'' by the lack of an anteorbital drop, thin browridges, absence of

maxilla In vertebrates, the maxilla (: maxillae ) is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The two maxil ...

ry fossae or a

sagittal crest A sagittal crest is a ridge of bone running lengthwise along the midline of the top of the skull (at the sagittal suture) of many mammalian and reptilian skulls, among others. The presence of this ridge of bone indicates that there are excepti ...

and only slight

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, di ...

. There are four recognized species, ''Pp. jonesi'', ''Pp. whitei'', ''Pp. broomi'', and ''Pp. lothagamensis'', but these

taxonomic 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme of classes (a taxonomy) and the allocation ...

designations have generated some controversy. Traditionally, these species have been distinguished based on molar size with ''Pp. jonesi'' being the smallest and ''Pp. whitei'' the largest. However, variation in molar size in ''Pp. broomi'' overlaps the other two. ''Pp. jonesi'' is distinguished as having a more squarish muzzle than ''Pp. whitei'' but more rounded than ''Pp. broomi''; however these distinctions are subtle and better diagnostic criteria are needed. Some authors argue for a confused taxonomy in ''Parapapio'' but disagree with the reclassification. Since there may be no significant difference between mean tooth sizes or

isotopic signature An isotopic signature (also isotopic fingerprint) is a ratio of non-radiogenic ' stable isotopes', stable radiogenic isotopes, or unstable radioactive isotopes of particular elements in an investigated material. The ratios of isotopes in a sample ...

s in ''Pp. broomi'' and ''Pp. jonesi'', these may represent a single sexually dimorphic species. However, the ranges of variation in ''Pp. broomi'' and ''Pp. whitei'' overlap and show no statistical differences based on an

ANOVA Analysis of variance (ANOVA) is a family of statistical methods used to compare the means of two or more groups by analyzing variance. Specifically, ANOVA compares the amount of variation ''between'' the group means to the amount of variation ''w ...

run on the eleven interlandmark distances used in their analysis, and propose that the two are merely a single variable species. The sample of ''Pp. jonesi'' (STS 565) differs enough in facial characteristics that it remains distinctive from other ''Parapapio'' species.

References

External links

Mikko's Phylogeny ArchiveProctor, Darby. Taxon, Site and Temporal Differentiation Using Dental Microwear in the Southern African Papionins. M.A. Thesis. Georgia State University, 2007.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7135620 Pleistocene primates Prehistoric monkeys Papionini Pleistocene mammals of Africa Prehistoric primate genera Fossil taxa described in 1937