Oligopithecus

Oligopithecus
Temporal range: Early Oligocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Suborder: Haplorhini
Infraorder: Simiiformes
Parvorder: Catarrhini
Family: †Oligopithecidae
Genus: †Oligopithecus
Simons, 1962[1]
Type species
†Oligopithecus savagei
Simons, 1962
Species
  • †Oligopithecus rogeri Gheerbrant et al. 1995[2]
  • †Oligopithecus savagei Simons, 1962[1]

Oligopithecus is a fossil primate that lived in Africa during the Early Oligocene. It is represented by one species, Oligopithecus savagei, known from one jaw bone found in Egypt.[3][4][5]

Morphology

Oligopithecus savagei has a dental formula of 2.1.2.3 on the lower jaw. The canine is relatively small and the front premolar is narrow. It also resembles the callitrichines more than the catarrhines. The lower third premolar is sectorial. Oligopithecus savagei has primitive molars as compared to other haplorrhines. The lower molars have a trigonid which is higher than the talonid. The lower molars also have a long and obliquely directed cristid obliqua and a small paraconid on the first molar. The lower molars of this species had sharply defined and high occlusal crests and cusps. Based upon the jaw bone, Oligopithecus savagei had a body mass of 1.5 kg (3.3 lb).

Oligopithecus savagei was discovered in Egypt.

References

  1. ^ a b E. L. Simons. 1962. Two new primate species from the African Oligocene. Postilla 64:1-12
  2. ^ E. Gheerbrant, H. Thomas, S. Sen and Z. Al-Sulaimani. 1995. Nouveau primate Oligopithecinae (Simiiformes) de l'Oligocène inférieur de Taqah, Sultanat d'Oman = New Oligopithecinae Primate (Simiiformes) from the early Oligocene of Taqah, Sultanate of Oman. Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences de Paris, Série 2 321:425-432
  3. ^ Nengo, Isaiah; Tafforeau, Paul; Gilbert, Christopher C.; Fleagle, John G.; Miller, Ellen R.; Feibel, Craig; Fox, David L.; Feinberg, Josh; Pugh, Kelsey D. (2017). "New infant cranium from the African Miocene sheds light on ape evolution" (PDF). Nature. 548 (7666): 169–174. Bibcode:2017Natur.548..169N. doi:10.1038/nature23456. PMID 28796200. S2CID 4397839. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-07-22. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  4. ^ Seiffert, Erik R.; Boyer, Doug M.; Fleagle, John G.; Gunnell, Gregg F.; Heesy, Christopher P.; Perry, Jonathan M. G.; Sallam, Hesham M. (2017-04-10). "New adapiform primate fossils from the late Eocene of Egypt". Historical Biology. 30 (1–2): 204–226. doi:10.1080/08912963.2017.1306522. ISSN 0891-2963. S2CID 89631627.
  5. ^ Stevens, Nancy J.; Seiffert, Erik R.; O'Connor, Patrick M.; Roberts, Eric M.; Schmitz, Mark D.; Krause, Cornelia; Gorscak, Eric; Ngasala, Sifa; Hieronymus, Tobin L. (2013). "Palaeontological evidence for an Oligocene divergence between Old World monkeys and apes" (PDF). Nature. 497 (7451): 611–614. Bibcode:2013Natur.497..611S. doi:10.1038/nature12161. PMID 23676680. S2CID 4395931.