A New Platyrrhine from the Middle Miocene of La Venta, Colombia, and the Phyletic Position of Callicebinae.

Abstract

A new platyrrhine, Miocallicebus villaviejai gen. et sp. nov., from the middle Miocene of La Venta (Colombia) is described. The specimen consists of a right maxillary fragment preserving a root of M1, a complete M2, and a fragmen taryM3. Miocallicebus is included in the Callicebinae on the basis of M2 structure, but it differs from extant Callicebus in its much larger size and the position of the pterygoid process. Morphological analysis of M2 structure suggests that the Callicebinae are more closely related to the pitheciinae than to other platyrrhine taxa, supporting the phylogenetic reconstruction proposed by recent molecular biological studies. The Callicebus-lineage is likely to have appeared by the middle Miocene age in the La Venta fauna.

On the time scale of new world primate diversification

“…12.4 MYA). Takai et al (2001) argued that the age of 21.3 MYA (ca. 20 MYA in this study) for the divergence of extant platyrrhines is too recent, and consequently the age of ca.…”

Biogeography in deep time – What do phylogenetics, geology, and paleoclimate tell us about early platyrrhine evolution?

“…I consider Late Miocene Solimoea to be sister to Lagothrix (Kay and Cozzuol, 2006) but the single specimen was not included in the analysis because of its fragmentary nature. Likewise Miocallicebus is in most respects indistinguishable from Callicebus (Takai et al, 2001) but was excluded from the analysis as it is known only from a single maxilla with heavily worn and damaged teeth. On the other hand, Acrecebus, although it is known only from a single maxillary molar was included because its molar structure is highly distinctive and shared with Cebus alone among platyrrhines (Kay and Frailey, 1993;Kay and Cozzuol, 2006).…”

“…Middle Miocene, 12.0-13.2 Ma Cebidae, sister to Saimiri Laventiana Rosenberger et al, 1991b was placed in synonymy with Neosaimiri UCMP, IGM (Rosenberger et al, 1991c;Takai, 1994) (Takai et al, 2001) Acrecebus fraileyi Kay and Cozzuol, 2006 Bandeira, upper Acre River, Acre State, Brazil 6-9 Ma, based on Huayquerian faunal age (Negri et al, 2010) Cebidae, sister to Cebus LACM (Kay and Cozzuol, 2006) any greater apparent similarity to the molecular tree ( Fig. 1).…”

“…6C). Therefore, the divergence of the Callicebus lineage must have occurred before $16 million years ago, although a representative of the Callicebus clade, Middle Miocene Miocallicebus (13.2-13.9 Ma), does not appear until several million years later in the Magdalena region of Colombia (Takai et al, 2001). The Colombian Middle Miocene also records several other stem pitheciines, Cebupithecia (13.0-13.6 Ma) and Nuciruptor (12.4-12.8 Ma) (Meldrum and Lemelin, 1991;Meldrum and Kay, 1997;Kay and Fleagle, 2010).…”

An extinct monkey from Haiti and the origins of the Greater Antillean primates

“…toussaintiana, a large platyrrhine comparable in body size to a very large Tufted Capuchin, Cebus apella, 4.6 to 4.7 kg (Table 2 and Table S1) (17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28), is distinguished from all other platyrrhine primates by the following combination of traits: large spatulate central incisors in tandem with smaller conical lateral incisors; maxillary and mandibular canines are low-crowned and stout; maxillary premolars are heteromorphic, increasing dramatically posteriorly in crown size and complexity, with P 2-3 small, singlerooted, and lacking lingual cingula, whereas P 4 is much larger, double-rooted, buccolingually wide, and with a well developed lingual cingulum; maxillary molars decrease in size posteriorly with M 2 generally resembling M 1 except for its smaller size, reduced talon, hypocone, and lingual cingulum; P 3-4 possess a protoconid and metaconid of equal height, closely spaced together but lacking a clear protocristid; M 1-2 with restricted trigonid and talonid basins as a result of narrowly spaced protoconid-metaconid and hypoconid-entoconid, and a basally wide trigonid as a result of prominent bulge of enamel below protoconid cusps; M 3 is smaller and irregularly shaped, with a marked trigonid buccal flare and two prominent talonid cusps. Description I. toussaintiana is described from the nearly complete dentition ( Fig.…”