''Paralouatta'' is a

platyrrhine 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 Ceboi ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

that currently contains two

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

species of small

primate Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...

s that lived on the island of

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

Description

''Paralouatta varonai'' was described from a nearly complete

cranium The skull, or cranium, is typically a bony enclosure around the brain of a vertebrate. In some fish, and amphibians, the skull is of cartilage. The skull is at the head end of the vertebrate. In the human, the skull comprises two prominent ...

from the late

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...

in 1991. This cranium and a number of isolated teeth and postcranial bones were found in the Cueva del Mono, a cave site in

Pinar del Río Province The Pinar del Río Province is one of the 15 provinces of Cuba. It is at the western end of the island of Cuba. The capital and largest city is Pinar del Río (191,081 pop. in 2022). Geography The Pinar del Río province is Cuba's westernmost p ...

. The initial description of the cranium included a proposal that ''Paralouatta varonai'' was a close Caribbean relative of the extant ''Alouatta'' (

howler monkey Howler monkeys (genus ''Alouatta'', monotypic in subfamily Alouattinae) are the most widespread primate genus in the Neotropical realm, Neotropics and are among the largest of the New World monkey, platyrrhines along with the muriquis (''Brachyte ...

s) of Central and South America, but this taxonomic placement was called into question with the analysis of the dental remains. Based on shared similarities with the three other Caribbean monkeys, '' Xenothrix mcgregori'', '' Insulacebus toussaintiana'', and '' Antillothrix bernensis'', MacPhee and Horovitz have proposed that the Caribbean primates are part of a monophyletic radiation which entered the Caribbean at the

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...

–

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

boundary. Further research confirms this assessment and places these three species in the tribe Xenotrichini. However, more recent research restores its close relationship with ''Alouatta''. The postcranial morphology of ''Paralouatta'' suggests that it was partly terrestrial, and a likely example of

island gigantism Island gigantism, or insular gigantism, is a biological phenomenon in which the size of an animal species isolated on an island increases dramatically in comparison to its mainland relatives. Island gigantism is one aspect of the more general "is ...

. A second species of ''Paralouatta'' (''P. marianae'') has also been described from the

Burdigalian The Burdigalian is, in the geologic timescale, an age (geology), age or stage (stratigraphy), stage in the early Miocene. It spans the time between 20.43 ± 0.05 annum, Ma and 15.97 ± 0.05 Ma (million years ago). Preceded by the Aquitanian (sta ...

(~18 million years old) Lagunitas Formation and is the largest Neotropic primate known of that epoch.

Paleobiology

''Paralouatta'' had an estimated body mass of . Analysis of postcranial morphology suggests that ''Paralouatta'' was at least somewhat semi-terrestrial, making it the most terrestrial platyrrhine genus known.

References

External links

Mikko's Phylogeny archive
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q19689191, from2=Q1431061 †Paralouatta Prehistoric monkeys Prehistoric primate genera Burdigalian life Miocene mammals of North America Pleistocene mammals of North America Fossils of Cuba Neogene Cuba Pleistocene Caribbean Fossil taxa described in 1991