Parapresbytis is an extinct genus of colobine monkey that lived in northeast Asia during the Mid-Late Pliocene. It is represented by single species known as Parapresbytis eohanuman, whose remains have been found throughout the Transbaikal area.
Taxonomy
Parapresbytis eohanuman was once considered a species of Dolichopithecus, but was found to be distinct.[1] There is debate as to its exact position within Colobinae, with some researchers considering it an ancestor to certain Asian colobines such as snub-nosed monkeys, and others considering it a member of a primitive colobine radiation that includes Dolichopithecus and left no descendants.[2]Parapresbytis seems to display a mosiac of distinct features shared with different living Asian colobine species, making its placement uncertain.[3]
Description
Parapresbytis was a large monkey, with an ulnar comparable in size to a chacma baboon. It has been estimated to weigh in at over 30 kg (66 lb).[3] Despite its size, the elbow morphology of Parapresbytis indicates that it was a climber and thus it can be assumed that it lived a mostly arboreal lifestyle. This matches well with the palaeoclimate of Pliocene northeast Asia, which at the time when Parapresbytis was living, would have been covered in warm forests.[1]
