Mesopithecus

Mesopithecus ("middle monkey" for being between Hylobates and Semnopithecus in build) is an extinct genus of Old World monkey that lived in Europe and Asia 7 to 5 million years ago.[1][2][3] Mesopithecus resembled a modern macaque, with a body length of about 40 centimetres (16 in). It was adapted to both walking and climbing, possessing a slender body with long, muscular limbs and flexible fingers. Its teeth suggest that it primarily ate soft leaves and fruit.[4] It was once thought that these extinct monkeys might be an ancestor of the grey langur, but a study in 2004[5] suggested that they are more closely related to the snub-nosed monkeys and doucs.

Mesopithecus
Temporal range:
Skeleton
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Suborder: Haplorhini
Infraorder: Simiiformes
Family: Cercopithecidae
Subfamily: Colobinae
Genus: †Mesopithecus
Wagner, 1839
Species
  • Mesopithecus monspessulanus
    Gervais 1859
  • Mesopithecus pentelici
    Wagner 1839 (type)
  • Mesopithecus pentelici skulls
    Mesopithecus pentelici skulls
  • Skeletal restoration
    Skeletal restoration

References
  1. Fossils of 6.4-Million-Year-Old Monkey Found in China; on: sci-news; Oct 9, 2020
  2. Xueping Ji et al.: Oldest colobine calcaneus from East Asia (Zhaotong, Yunnan, China). In: Journal of Human Evolution Vol. 147: 102866; October 2020; doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102866
  3. Jablonski, Nina G.; et al. (6 August 2020). "Mesopithecus pentelicus from Zhaotong, China, the easternmost representative of a widespread Miocene cercopithecoid species". Journal of Human Evolution. 145: 102851. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102851. PMID 32771770.
  4. Palmer, D., ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 289. ISBN 1-84028-152-9.
  5. Pan, Ruliang; Groves, Colin; Oxnard, Charles (2004). "Relationships between the fossil colobine Mesopithecus pentelicus and extant cercopithecoids, based on dental metrics" (PDF). American Journal of Primatology. 62 (4): 287–299. doi:10.1002/ajp.20022. PMID 15085533. S2CID 6688467. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-07-27. Retrieved 2009-01-26.


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