Solimoea Acrensis

''Solimoea acrensis'' is a prehistoric ateline monkey from the Late Miocene Solimões Formation of Brazil. It is the only known species of the genus ''Solimoea''.

Discovery and naming

Despite the abundance of primates in modern-day Amazonia, the fossil record of these animals is rather poor with only few specimens having been described from Miocene South America prior to 2006. During a joint expedition between the Universidade Federal do Acre and the University of Rondônia further primate remains where recovered and later described by Richard Kay and Mario Alberto Cozzuol. These remains include the holotype UFAC-LPP 5177, an isolated lower left first molar, and UFAC-LPP 5178, a maxillary fragment containing the 3rd and 4th premolar. Although they represent different parts of the dentition, they are referred to the same species for a series of reasons. Both specimens were found in the same locality and share certain morphological features including the moderately developed shearing crests. The dimensions of both specimens also match the proportions seen in other atelids.

The name of ''Solimoea acrensis'' references both the formation and state the fossils were found in.

Description

The first lower molar is uniquely elongated and narrow for an atelid. The upper premolars possess 3 distinct roots, one lingual and two buccal. The shearing crests of both premolars and molars are moderately developed, which can be used to infer diet.

The body size of ''Solimoea'' has been calculated based on the molar occlusal area in comparison with the body weight of female individuals of 15 other platyrrhine species. According to the resulting formula ''Solimoea'' may have obtained a weight of around or up to . A second formula has also been applied, including data from both catarrhines and platyrrhines, giving an average estimated weight of . This puts the animal in a similar size range as the modern woolly monkeys (''Lagothrix'') and spider monkeys (''Ateles''). Research comparing several dozen extinct species with a broader representation of extant species shows ''Solimoea'' to be within the Atelinae subfamily.

Phylogeny

In the description of ''Solimoea'', Kay and Cozzuol recover the genus as the earliest member of Atelinae, one of the two extant subfamilies of the Atelidae.

Although originally proposed to be an ateline, a relative of spider monkeys, woolly monkeys and muriquis, a study from 2015 instead suggests that ''Solimoea'' may have instead been a member of Alouattinae, the clade composed of the modern howler monkeys. The cladogram by Rosenberger ''et al.'' is shown below.

Paleobiology

In platyrrhine primates the morphology of the cheek teeth, in particular the development of the shearing crests in relation to molar size, is reflecting of the animal's diet. This relation is expressed in the form of the "shearing quotient". Depending on the diet, the "shearing quotient" in platyrrhines may be in a positive or negative range, with primates feeding on insects, cellulose-rich leaves and other fibrous matter having a better developed shearing crests than those feeding primarily on fruit or tree gum, which possess flatter molars with rounded shearing crests. The "shearing quotient" of ''Solimoea'' has been calculated to be around -5%, corresponding with a diet of soft fruit and generally resembling that of the extant Geoffroy's spider monkey (shearing quotient of -4.35%), the most frugivorous of all living atelids.

''Solimoea'' shared its environment with two other primate species, including a species of the stem-howler monkey '' Stirtonia'', previously identified as a procyonid carnivoran by Frailey (1986), and ''Acrecebus fraileyi also described by Kay and Cozzuol.

See also

* List of fossil primates of South America

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q21447541, from2=Q7558132

†Solimoea
Prehistoric monotypic mammal genera
Prehistoric monkeys
Prehistoric primate genera
Miocene primates of South America
Huayquerian
Chasicoan
Mayoan
Neogene Brazil
Fossils of Brazil
Fossil taxa described in 2006