A window into the early evolutionary history of Cercopithecidae: Late Miocene evidence from Chad, Central Africa

Laurent Pallas (1) , Guillaume Daver (1) , Hassane Mackaye (1, 2) , Andossa Likius (1, 2) , Patrick Vignaud (1) , Franck Guy (1)

1 Palevoprim [Poitiers] - Laboratoire de paléontologie, évolution, paléoécosystèmes, paléoprimatologie [UMR 7262]
2 Departement de Paleontologie [Université de N'Djaména]

Central Africa is known as a major center of diversification for extant Old World Monkeys (OWM) and yet has a poorly documented fossil record of monkeys. Here we report a new colobine monkey (Cercopithecoides bruneti sp. nov.) from the Central African hominin-bearing fossiliferous area of Toros-Menalla, Chad at ca. 7 Ma. In addition to filling a gap in the spatial and temporal record of early OWM evolutionary history, we assess the ecomorphological diversity of early OWM by providing evidence on the onset of a folivorous diet and a partial reacquisition of terrestrial locomotor habits among Miocene colobines. We also support the phylogenetic affinities of the genus Cercopithecoides among the stem group of the extant African colobine monkeys.

Mots clés: Stem colobini; Colobinae; Cercopithecoides; Adaptive radiation; Ecomorphology

Domaines: Paléontologie; Archéologie et Préhistoire

Laurent Pallas, Guillaume Daver, Hassane Mackaye, Andossa Likius, Patrick Vignaud, et al.. A window into the early evolutionary history of Cercopithecidae: Late Miocene evidence from Chad, Central Africa. Journal of Human Evolution, 2019, 132, pp.61-79. ⟨10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.03.013⟩. ⟨hal-02167965⟩