''Caipora'' is an extinct genus of large

New World monkey New World monkeys are the five families of primates that are found in the tropical regions of Mexico, Central and South America: Callitrichidae, Cebidae, Aotidae, Pitheciidae, and Atelidae. The five families are ranked together as the Ceboidea ( ...

that lived during the Pleistocene. It contains a single species, ''Caipora bambuiorum''. Fossils have been found only in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Toca da Boa Vista Toca da Boa Vista (BA-082) is the longest known cave in the Southern hemisphere.. It is located within the municipality of Campo Formoso, 11 km east of the town of Lage dos Negros, in the State of Bahia, Brazil. it had over 120 km of ma ...

cave, alongside the larger ''

Protopithecus ''Protopithecus'' is an extinct genus of large New World monkey that lived during the Pleistocene. Fossils have been found in the Toca da Boa Vista cave of Brazil, as well as other locales in the country. Fossils of another large, but less robu ...

''. The presence of these two large arboreal monkeys in

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...

suggests that the region may have supported a dense forest during the Late Pleistocene.

Taxonomy

''Caipora bambuiorum'' is known from an almost complete skeleton of a late-stage subadult individual discovered in the

cave in 1992, by the spelaeological team Grupo Bambui de Pesquisas Espeleologicas. Its generic name is derived from

caipora Caipora is an entity of the Tupi- Guarani mythology in Brazil. The word "Caipora" comes from tupi and means "inhabitant of the forest". It is represented as a dark-skinned, small Native American, naked with a very long red mane, smoking a cigar ...

, a figure in Brazilian folklore, while the specific name was given in honour of the Grupo Bambui.

Description

''Caipora'' was a large-bodied monkey: despite the subadult age of the type specimen, its postcranial skeleton is more robust than any living New World monkey, but not as robust as ''Protopithecus'', and the individual is estimated to have weighed around 20.5 kilograms. Its upper limbs are very long, and the

neurocranium In human anatomy, the neurocranium, also known as the braincase, brainpan, or brain-pan is the upper and back part of the skull, which forms a protective case around the brain. In the human skull, the neurocranium includes the calvaria (skull), ...

is more rounded than is typical in New World monkeys. Like the extant genera ''

Ateles Spider monkeys are New World monkeys belonging to the genus ''Ateles'', part of the subfamily Atelinae, family Atelidae. Like other atelines, they are found in tropical forests of Central and South America, from southern Mexico to Brazil. The g ...

'' and ''

Brachyteles The muriquis, also known as woolly spider monkeys, are the monkeys of the genus ''Brachyteles''. They are closely related to both the spider monkeys and the woolly monkeys. The two species are the southern (''B. arachnoides'') and northern (' ...

'', it may have been a specialised suspensory climber and clamberer.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q3649872, from2=Q21850188 †Caipora Pleistocene primates Pleistocene mammals of South America Lujanian Pleistocene Brazil Fossils of Brazil Fossil taxa described in 1996