''Miocallicebus'' is an
extinct
Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...
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 ...
of
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 ...
s from the
Middle Miocene
The Middle Miocene is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), epoch made up of two Stage (stratigraphy), stages: the Langhian and Serravallian stages. The Middle Miocene is preceded by the Early Miocene.
The sub-epoch lasted from 15.97 ± 0. ...
(
Laventan
The Laventan () age is a period of geologic time (13.8 to 11.8 Ma) within the Middle Miocene epoch of the Neogene, used more specifically within the SALMA classification in South America. It follows the Colloncuran and precedes the Mayoan age.
...
in the
South American land mammal age
The South American land mammal ages (SALMA) establish a geologic timescale for prehistoric South American fauna beginning 64.5 Ma during the Paleocene and continuing through to the Late Pleistocene (0.011 Ma). These periods are referred to as age ...
s; 13.8 to 11.8
mya). Its remains have been found at the
Konzentrat-Lagerstätte of
La Venta
La Venta is a pre-Columbian archaeological site of the Olmec civilization located in the present-day Mexican state of Tabasco. Some of the artifacts have been moved to the museum "Parque - Museo de La Venta", which is in nearby Villaherm ...
in the
Honda Group of
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
. 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 ...
is ''Miocallicebus villaviejai''.
[''Miocallicebus villaviejai'']
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
Etymology
''Miocallicebus'' is derived from the Greek name for the modern genus of
titi
The titis, or titi monkeys, are New World monkeys of the subfamily Callicebinae, which contains three extant genera: ''Cheracebus'', ''Callicebus'', and ''Plecturocebus.'' This subfamily also contains the extinct genera '' Miocallicebus, Homuncu ...
s, ''Callicebus'', with the prefix ''Mio'' for Miocene. The
species epithet Specific name may refer to:
* in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database
In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules:
* Specific name (botany) ...
refers to
Villavieja, a village close to where the fossil remains were found.
[Takai et al., 2001, p.292]
Description
Fossils of ''Miocallicebus'' were discovered in 1997 during a field study executed by researchers at the Primate Research Institute of
Kyoto University
, or , is a National university, national research university in Kyoto, Japan. Founded in 1897, it is one of the former Imperial Universities and the second oldest university in Japan.
The university has ten undergraduate faculties, eighteen gra ...
. The specimen consists of a right maxillary fragment preserving a root of M1, a complete M2, and a badly damaged M3,
[Takai et al., 2001, p.291] discovered at the ''Bolivia Site'' in the
Tatacoa Desert of
Huila, south-central Colombia.
[ The genus has not been found in the "Monkey Beds" of La Venta.][Wheeler, 2010, p.137] The fossil remains were uncovered just above the Tatacoa Sandstone Beds of the La Victoria Formation, which has been dated to the Laventan
The Laventan () age is a period of geologic time (13.8 to 11.8 Ma) within the Middle Miocene epoch of the Neogene, used more specifically within the SALMA classification in South America. It follows the Colloncuran and precedes the Mayoan age.
...
with a range from 13.86 to 12.38 mya.[
The estimated weight for ''Miocallicebus'', considered similar to but much larger than the extant genus '']Callicebus
''Callicebus'' is a genus of monkeys known as titi monkeys.
Historically, titis were monogeneric, comprising only the genus ''Callicebus'' Thomas, 1903. Owing to the great diversity found across titi monkey species, a new genus-level taxonomy wa ...
'',[Takai et al., 2001, p.294][Tejedor, 2013, p.28] is .[Silvestro et al., 2017, p.14] However, it may be phylogenically nestled within ''Callicebus'',[Silvestro et al., 2017, p.26] which would warrant a replacement of the species to be in that genus.
The evolutionary split between Pitheciidae
The Pitheciidae () are one of the five families of New World monkeys now recognised. Formerly, they were included in the family Atelidae. The family includes the titis, saki monkeys and uakaris. Most species are native to the Amazon region of ...
of '' Cebupithecia'' from the Honda Group and ''Callicebus
''Callicebus'' is a genus of monkeys known as titi monkeys.
Historically, titis were monogeneric, comprising only the genus ''Callicebus'' Thomas, 1903. Owing to the great diversity found across titi monkey species, a new genus-level taxonomy wa ...
'', including ''Miocallicebus'', has been placed at 15.2 mya.[Takai et al., 2001, p.304]
Habitat
The Honda Group, and more precisely the "Monkey Beds", are the richest site for fossil primates in South America.[Rosenberger & Hartwig, 2001, p.3] It has been argued that the monkeys of the Honda Group were living in habitat that was in contact with the Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...
and Orinoco Basins, and that La Venta itself was probably seasonally dry forest.[Lynch Alfaro et al., 2015, p.520]
See also
* List of primates of Colombia
The primates of Colombia include 41 extant species in 13 genera and five families. Additionally, 12 fossil species in 10 genera and five families have been identified in Colombia, mainly at the La Venta (Colombia), La Venta Lagerstätte of the Hond ...
* ''Stirtonia'' (monkey)
References
Bibliography
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Further reading
*
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{{Taxonbar, from=Q55623373
Monotypic prehistoric primate genera
Prehistoric monkeys
Miocene genus first appearances
Miocene extinctions
Miocene primates of South America
Laventan
Neogene Colombia
Fossils of Colombia
Honda Group, Colombia
Fossil taxa described in 2001