Branisella boliviana
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| Branisella boliviana Fossil range: Late Oligocene |
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| Branisella boliviana Hoffstetter, 1969 |
Branisella boliviana is an extinct species of New World monkey from the Salla formation of what is now Bolivia during the late Oligocene, approximately 26 million years ago.[1] It is the oldest fossil New World Monkey discovered. It was found in Bolivia by the paleonthologist Leonardo Branisa, and it was named after him by Hoffstetter, the scientist who first described and classified it in 1969.[2] Morphologically, it is similar to Proteopithecus, an Oligocene primate from Africa, in its reduced upper 2nd premolar and unreduced lower 2nd premolar. This has led many scientists to hypothesize that the primitive platyrrhine ancestors of Branisella came to South America from Africa. Within platyrrhines, this taxon has been interpreted as either a stem platyrrhine not related to any of the living forms or as a primitive callitrichine. As Branisella is currently the only South American primate taxon known until the Miocene, more fossils are needed before it's phylogenetic position can be clearly established.
[edit] References
- ^ Takai, M, et al (February 2000). "New fossil materials of the earliest new world monkey, Branisella boliviana, and the problem of platyrrhine origins.". American Journal of Physical Anthropology 111 (2): 263–81. doi:.
- ^ Hoffstetter MR (1969). "Un primate de l'Pliocène inférieur sudamericain: Branisella boliviana gen. et sp. nov.". C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 269: 434–437.
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