Extinct species of Old World monkey
Theropithecus oswaldi is an extinct species of Theropithecus from the early to middle Pleistocene of Kenya , Ethiopia , Tanzania , South Africa , Spain , Morocco and Algeria .[ 1] The species went extinct in South Africa around 1.0 Ma.[ 2] Having existed alongside hominins like Homo erectus , it is likely that conflict with early humans played a role in their extinction as a site has been found with many juveniles butchered.[ 3] [ 4]
Description
It is remarkable for its large size compared to other Old World monkeys. One source projects a specimen of Theropithecus oswaldi to have weighed 72 kg (159 lb).[ 5] Postcranial fossils found of this species are much greater in size than extant papionins , including the mandrill .[ 6]
Palaeoecology
According to δ 13 C values from fossils of the species from Swartkrans, it was a specialised grazer .[ 7] A dental microwear study based on fossils from the Omo Valley suggests that the diet of T. oswaldi , like that of the modern day gelada , consisted primarily of the aerial parts of herbaceous monocots and dicots.[ 8] T. oswaldi fossils are also known from Elandsfontein,[ 9] where they subsided on diets mainly composed of C3 plants as both browsers and grazers.[ 10]
References
^ "The Paleobiology Database" . Retrieved 11 August 2013 .
^ Faith, J.T., 2014. "Late Pleistocene and Holocene mammal extinctions on continental Africa". Earth-Science Reviews 128: 105–121
^ Shipman, Pat; Bosler, Wendy (June 1981). "Butchering of Giant Geladas at an Acheulian Site" . Current Anthropology . 22 : 257–288. doi :10.1086/202663 . JSTOR 2742201 . S2CID 87006937 .
^ Getahun, D. A., Delson, E., & Seyoum, C. M. (2023). "A review of Theropithecus oswaldi with the proposal of a new subspecies". Journal of Human Rvolution , 180, 103373. doi :10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103373
^ Jablonski, Nina; Leakey, Meave; Anton, Mauricio (1 January 2008), Jablonski, N.G. Leakey, M.G. and Anton, M. (2008) Systematic "Paleontology of the Cercopithecines". In: Jablonski, N.G. and Leakey, M.G. (eds.) Koobi Fora Research Project. Vol. 6. "The Fossil Monkeys". California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, pp. 103–300 , pp. 103–300, retrieved 3 May 2020
^ Geraads, Denis; de Bonis, Louis (6 Feb 2020). "First record of Theropithecus (Cercopithecidae) from the Republic of Djibouti" . Journal of Human Evolution . 138 : 102686. Bibcode :2020JHumE.13802686G . doi :10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.102686 . PMID 31759254 . S2CID 208254366 .
^ van der Merwe, Nikolaas J.; Thackeray, J.Francis; Lee-Thorp, Julia A.; Luyt, Julie (May 2003). "The carbon isotope ecology and diet of Australopithecus africanus at Sterkfontein, South Africa" . Journal of Human Evolution . 44 (5): 581–597. doi :10.1016/S0047-2484(03)00050-2 . Retrieved 7 September 2024 – via Elsevier Science Direct.
^ Merceron, Gildas; Kallend, Auria; Francisco, Arthur; Louail, Margot; Martin, Florian; Plastiras, Christos-Alexandros; Thiery, Ghislain; Boisserie, Jean-Renaud (15 June 2021). "Further away with dental microwear analysis: Food resource partitioning among Plio-Pleistocene monkeys from the Shungura Formation, Ethiopia" . Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology . 572 : 110414. doi :10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110414 . Retrieved 7 September 2024 – via Elsevier Science Direct.
^ Forrest, Frances L.; Stynder, Deano D.; Bishop, Laura C.; Levin, Naomi E.; Lehmann, Sophie B.; Patterson, David B.; Matthews, Thalassa; Braun, David R. (February 2018). "Zooarchaeological reconstruction of newly excavated Middle Pleistocene deposits from Elandsfontein, South Africa" . Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports . 17 : 19–29. doi :10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.10.034 . Retrieved 10 September 2024 – via Elsevier Science Direct.
^ Lehmann, Sophie B.; Braun, David R.; Dennis, Kate J.; Patterson, David B.; Stynder, Deano D.; Bishop, Laura C.; Forrest, Frances; Levin, Naomi E. (1 September 2016). "Stable isotopic composition of fossil mammal teeth and environmental change in southwestern South Africa during the Pliocene and Pleistocene" . Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology . 457 : 396–408. doi :10.1016/j.palaeo.2016.04.042 . Retrieved 10 September 2024 – via Elsevier Science Direct.