Gorgopithecus

Gorgopithecus is an extinct genus of primate, in the old word monkey family Cercopithecidae, closely related to the baboons.[2][3] There is only one known species, Gorgopithecus major. It has been found at sites from the Pliocene and Early Pleistocene Epoch in South Africa and Tanzania.[4] It was first discovered at the Kromdraai A (also called the Kromdraai "Faunal") site in South Africa.[2] It has since been found from Swartkrans (member 1), South Africa.[5] Most recently, it has been recognized from the DKI site in Bed I of Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, which has been dated to 1.8 million years old.[4]

Gorgopithecus
Temporal range: Pliocene - Early Pleistocene[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Suborder: Haplorhini
Infraorder: Simiiformes
Family: Cercopithecidae
Tribe: Papionini
Genus: †Gorgopithecus
Broom & Robinson, 1949
Species:
†G. major
Binomial name
†Gorgopithecus major
Broom, 1940

Description

Gorgopithecus major was somewhat larger in body size than the largest extant baboons, with males estimated to have weighed approximately 37 kg on average, based on dental size.[6] Like most other papionin (baboons and their close relatives) monkeys, it had a large degree of sexual dimorphism where males are much larger than females and have large, fang-like, canine teeth.[6] Like other baboons, it has a long snout, but is distinguished from other papionin monkeys by the presence of deeply excavated fossae on the sides of its snout (postcanine fossae), absence of maxillary ridges (crests of bone along the length of the snout), and short nasal bones.[7]

Paleoecology

The diet of Gorgopithecus was probably similar in many ways to that of living baboons and macaques, which are mostly opportunistic feeders with an omnivorous diet dominated by fruit, roots, tubers, grass seeds, gums, soft leaves, but also occasional insects and other animal foods.[8] The morphology of the molar teeth suggest it ate mostly fruits and other easily digested plant parts.[9] Microwear analysis of teeth from Kromdraai, South Africa was consistent with leaf eating, but samples were too small for statistical analysis.[10] To date, no limb bones or other elements of the postcranial skeleton have been attributed to G. major so its manner of locomotion and whether it preferred life in the trees or on the ground is unknown.

References
  1. "Gorgopithecus". Fossilworks.
  2. R. Broom & J. T. Robinson (1948). "A new type of fossil baboon, Gorgopithecus major". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 119 (2): 379–386. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1949.tb00887.x.
  3. "Fossilworks: Gorgopithecus". fossilworks.org. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  4. Gilbert, Christopher C.; Frost, Stephen R.; Delson, Eric (2016). "Reassessment of Olduvai Bed I cercopithecoids: A new biochronological and biogeographical link to the South African fossil record". Journal of Human Evolution. 92: 50–59. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.12.003. PMID 26989016.
  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 L.; 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. Freedman, Leonard (1957). "The fossil Cercopithecoidea of South Africa". Annals of the Transvaal Museum. 23: 121–257.
  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. 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.
  10. El-Zaatari, Sireen; Grine, Frederick E.; Teaford, Mark F.; Smith, Heather F. (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.


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