''Cercopithecoides'' is an extinct genus of colobine monkey from

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

which lived during the latest

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 ...

to the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

period. There are several recognized species, with the smallest close in size to some of the larger extant colobines, and males of the largest species weighed over . The

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

, ''Cercopithecoides williamsi'', was named by O. D. Mollett in 1947, based on a partial cranium and mandible of a male individual from

Makapansgat Makapansgat () (or Makapan Valley World Heritage Site) is an archaeological location within the Makapansgat and Zwartkrans Valleys, northeast of Mokopane in Limpopo province, South Africa. It is an important palaeontological site, with the loca ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. It has since been found across many Pliocene and Pleistocene sites in South Africa, Angola, and Kenya. The largest species, ''Cercopithecoides kimeui'', was named by Meave Leakey in 1982, based on

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

s found in

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

and

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

.Meave Leakey : Extinct Large Colobines From the Plio-Pleistocene of Africa. In: American Journal of Physical Anthropology. Vol. 58, No. 2, 1982, pp. 153-172, doi: 10.1002 / ajpa.1330580207

References

Miocene primates Pliocene primates Pleistocene primates Miocene mammals of Africa Pliocene mammals of Africa Pleistocene mammals of Africa Old World monkeys Fossil taxa described in 1947 {{paleo-primate-stub