''Theropithecus'' is a genus of primates in the family
Cercopithecidae
Old World monkeys are primates in the family (biology), family Cercopithecidae (). Twenty-four genus, genera and 138 species are recognized, making it the largest primate family. Old World monkey genera include baboons (genus ''Papio''), red colo ...
. It contains a single living species, the
gelada
The gelada (''Theropithecus gelada'', , ), sometimes called the bleeding-heart monkey or the gelada baboon, is a species of Old World monkey found only in the Ethiopian Highlands, living at elevations of above sea level. It is the only living me ...
(''Theropithecus gelada''), native to the
Ethiopian Highlands
The Ethiopian Highlands (also called the Abyssinian Highlands) is a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia in Northeast Africa. It forms the largest continuous area of its elevation in the continent, with little of its surface falling below , whil ...
.
Additional species are known from fossils, including:
* ''
Theropithecus brumpti''
[Getahun, D. A., Delson, E., & Seyoum, C. M. (2023). A review of Theropithecus oswaldi with the proposal of a new subspecies. Journal of human evolution, 180, 103373. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103373]
* ''
Theropithecus darti''
* ''
Theropithecus oswaldi''
The earliest remains probably belonging to the genus are from
Kanapoi, Kenya, dating to the early Pliocene, around 4.1-4.2 million years ago.
Although most remains are known from Africa,
during the
Early Pleistocene
The Early Pleistocene is an unofficial epoch (geology), sub-epoch in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, representing the earliest division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. It is currently esti ...
the genus had a broader distribution ranging from southern Europe, including Spain and possibly Italy, to the Indian subcontinent.
References
{{Authority control
Papionini
Primate genera
Mammal genera with one living species
Taxa named by Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire
Taxa described in 1843