Dinopithecus

Dinopithecus ("terrible ape") is an extinct genus of very large primate closely related to the baboon that lived during the Pliocene to the Pleistocene epoch of South Africa and Ethiopia.[1][2] It was named by British paleontologist Robert Broom in 1937.[3] The only species currently recognized is Dinopithecus ingens, as D. quadratirostris has been reassigned to the genus Soromandrillus.[4] It is known from several infilled cave sites in South Africa, all of early Pleistocene age, including Skurweberg, Swartkrans (Member 1), and Sterkfontein (Member 4 or 5, but probably member 4).[1][2][5]

Dinopithecus
Temporal range:
Dinopithecus ingens skull.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Suborder: Haplorhini
Infraorder: Simiiformes
Family: Cercopithecidae
Subfamily: Cercopithecinae
Tribe: Papionini
Genus: †Dinopithecus
Broom, 1937
Species:
†D. ingens
Binomial name
†Dinopithecus ingens

Description

Dinopithecus ingens was approximately twice the size of the largest living baboons, with males averaging 46 kg (101 lb) and females 29 kg (64 lb), based on estimates from the molar teeth.[6] In some cases males were estimated to reach in maturity a weight of 77 kg (170 lb).[6] The most distinguishing feature of the genus is its large size in comparison to other papionins. The only other papionin species to attain a similar size were Theropithecus brumpti and Theropithecus oswaldi.[6] These, however, are very different from Dinopithecus in their dental morphology.[2] Overall, the skull is similar to that of modern baboons, except that it generally lacks the facial fossae (depressions on the sides of the muzzle and lower jaw) and maxillary ridges (ridges of bone that run along the upper sides of the snout).[2][4] For these reasons, Dinopithecus is sometimes treated as a subgenus of Papio.[2][7]

Paleoecology

Most living papionins are omnivorous feeders that consume a wide range of readily digestible plant parts, especially fruits, as well as insects and other invertebrates, and small vertebrates.[8] An analysis of the carbon isotopes from samples of its tooth enamel found Dinopithecus to consume the smallest portion of grass and other savanna-based foods of any South African primate.[9] Analysis of the microwear patterns on the molar teeth showed that they were similar to those of the living yellow baboon (Papio cynocephalus), suggesting a broad and eclectic diet.[10] A study of the adaptations of the molar teeth suggested that D. ingens ate a very high percentage of fruit and relatively few leaves.[11]

No bones of the limbs or other parts beyond the skulls and teeth have been attributed to Dinopithecus, so it is impossible to know its mode of locomotion for certain. However, as a papionin of very large size, it most probably spent a significant amount of time on the ground and moved quadrupedally.

References
  1. Freedman, Leonard (1957). "The fossil Cercopithecoidea of South Africa". Annals of the Transvaal Museum. 23: 121–257.
  2. Szalay, Frederick S.; Delson, Eric (1979). Evolutionary history of the primates. New York: Academic Press. ISBN 0126801509. OCLC 5008038.
  3. Broom R. (1937). On some new Pleistocene mammals from limestone caves of the Transvaal. S Afr J Sci 33, 750-768.
  4. Gilbert, Christopher C. (May 2013). "Cladistic analysis of extant and fossil African papionins using craniodental data". Journal of Human Evolution. 64 (5): 399–433. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.01.013. PMID 23490264.
  5. Delson, Eric (1984). "Cercopithecid biochronology of the African Plio-Pleistocene: correlation among eastern and southern hominid-bearing localities". Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg. 69: 199–218.
  6. Delson, Eric; Terranova, Carl J.; Jungers, William J.; Sargis, Eric J.; Jablonski, Nina G.; Dechow, Paul C. (2000). "Body mass in Cercopithecidae (Primates, Mammalia): estimation and scaling in extinct and extant taxa". Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History. 83: 1–159.
  7. Gilbert, Christopher C.; Frost, Stephen R.; Pugh, Kelsey D.; Anderson, Monya; Delson, Eric (September 2018). "Evolution of the modern baboon ( Papio hamadryas ): A reassessment of the African Plio-Pleistocene record". Journal of Human Evolution. 122: 38–69. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.04.012. PMID 29954592. S2CID 49597411.
  8. G., Fleagle, John (2013). Primate adaptation and evolution (3rd ed.). Amsterdam: Elsevier/Academic Press. ISBN 9780123786326. OCLC 820107187.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. Codron, Daryl; Luyt, Julie; Lee-Thorp, Julia; Sponheimer, Matt; de Ruiter, Darryl; Codron, Jacqui (2005). "Utilization of savanna-based resources by Plio-Pleistocene baboons". South African Journal of Science. 101: 245–248.
  10. El-Zaatari, Sireen; Grine, Frederick E.; Teaford, Mark F.; Smith, Heather F. (August 2005). "Molar microwear and dietary reconstructions of fossil cercopithecoidea from the Plio-Pleistocene deposits of South Africa". Journal of Human Evolution. 49 (2): 180–205. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2005.03.005. PMID 15964607.
  11. Benefit, Brenda R (1999). "Victoriapithecus: The key to Old World monkey and catarrhine origins". Evolutionary Anthropology. 7 (5): 155–174. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1520-6505(1999)7:5<155::AID-EVAN2>3.0.CO;2-D. S2CID 84945722.
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