Parapithecidae is an extinct family of

primates Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians (monkeys and apes, the latter includin ...

which lived in the

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...

and

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but ...

periods in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

. Eocene fossils from

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

are sometimes included in the family in addition. They showed certain similarities in dentition to

Condylarthra Condylarthra is an informal group – previously considered an order – of extinct placental mammals, known primarily from the Paleocene and Eocene epochs. They are considered early, primitive ungulates. It is now largely considered to be a was ...

, but had short faces and jaws shaped like those of

tarsier Tarsiers ( ) are haplorhine primates of the family Tarsiidae, which is itself the lone extant family within the infraorder Tarsiiformes. Although the group was once more widespread, all of its species living today are found in Maritime Southe ...

s. They are part of the superfamily Parapithecoidea, perhaps equally related to Ceboidea and

Cercopithecoidea Old World monkey is the common English name for a family of primates known taxonomically as the Cercopithecidae (). Twenty-four genera and 138 species are recognized, making it the largest primate family. Old World monkey genera include baboons ...

plus

Hominoidea Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a clade of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and as well as Europe in prehistory), which together with its sister ...

- but the placement of Parapithecoidea is substantially uncertain. The most commonly found fossil species of parapithecid is '' Apidium phiomense'', found like many of the species in the

Jebel Qatrani Formation The Jebel Qatrani Formation (also Gebel Qatrani) is a palaeontological and geologic formation located in the Faiyum Governorate of central Egypt. Conformably overlying the Qasr el Sagha Formation. It is exposed namely between the Jebel Qat ...

. It appears to have been

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally, but others are exclusively arboreal. The habitats pose num ...

, diurnal and

frugivorous A frugivore is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts and seeds. Approximately 20% of mammalian herbivores eat fruit. Frugivores are highly dependent on the abundance an ...

and lived in social groups, and its

postcrania Postcrania (postcranium, adjective: postcranial) in zoology and vertebrate paleontology is all or part of the skeleton apart from the skull. Frequently, fossil remains, e.g. of dinosaurs or other extinct tetrapods, consist of partial or isolated s ...

l skeleton is similar to that of extant species of

pronograde Quadrupedalism is a form of locomotion where four limbs are used to bear weight and move around. An animal or machine that usually maintains a four-legged posture and moves using all four limbs is said to be a quadruped (from Latin ''quattuo ...

leapers, indicating its likely form of locomotion.Seiffert, Erik & Simons, Elwyn & Fleagle, John & Godinot, Marc. (2010). Paleogene Anthropoids. pages 369-392. In 'Cenozoic Mammals of Africa' (editors Lars Wardelin and William Sanders) University of California Press 6 August 2010 Fossil evidence presented in 2020 suggests a parapithecid rafted across the Atlantic in the Paleogene and at least briefly colonized South America. '' Ucayalipithecus'' remains dating from the Early Oligocene of Amazonian Peru are deeply nested within the Parapithecidae, and have dental features markedly different from those of platyrrhines. '' Qatrania wingi'' of lower Oligocene

Fayum Faiyum ( ar, الفيوم ' , borrowed from cop, ̀Ⲫⲓⲟⲙ or Ⲫⲓⲱⲙ ' from egy, pꜣ ym "the Sea, Lake") is a city in Middle Egypt. Located southwest of Cairo, in the Faiyum Oasis, it is the capital of the modern Faiyu ...

deposits is considered the closest known relative of ''Ucayalipithecus''. The absence of later finds from this group in South America indicates they were outcompeted by platyrrhines, which descend from a parallel anthropoid colonization of South America.

Classification issues

Fleagle and Kay (1987) comment on the difficulty in adequately classifying Parapithecidae - they note various attempts over many years to classify them as a 'sister'

taxon In biology, a taxon ( back-formation from '' taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular n ...

Old World monkeys Old World monkey is the common English name for a family of primates known taxonomically as the Cercopithecidae (). Twenty-four genera and 138 species are recognized, making it the largest primate family. Old World monkey genera include baboons ...

, all other Old World

anthropoids The simians, anthropoids, or higher primates are an infraorder (Simiiformes ) of primates containing all animals traditionally called monkeys and apes. More precisely, they consist of the parvorders New World monkeys (Platyrrhini) and Catarrh ...

platyrrhines 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 () ...

or all other higher primates. They concluded that, given the number of features they lacked that anthropoids have, they should be considered 'the most primitive higher primates'. Williams, Kay and Kirk (2010) note previous research by Jaeger et al. that placed Parapithecoidea as

stem Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushr ...

catarrhines (i.e. simians (aka anthropoids) that are closely related to Old World Monkeys), but consider the evidence from Seiffert et al. (2005) that they are instead stem simians to be stronger. Seiffert et al. (2010) propose that Parapithecoidea arose during the

Bartonian The Bartonian is, in the ICS's geologic time scale, a stage or age in the middle Eocene Epoch or Series. The Bartonian Age spans the time between . It is preceded by the Lutetian and is followed by the Priabonian Age. Stratigraphic defin ...

(middle

), with a split between '' Biretia'' and the Parapithecidae occurring early in the

Priabonian The Priabonian is, in the ICS's geologic timescale, the latest age or the upper stage of the Eocene Epoch or Series. It spans the time between . The Priabonian is preceded by the Bartonian and is followed by the Rupelian, the lowest stage ...

(late Eocene). They note that Simons originally placed '' Serapia'' within the Parapithecidae, but in 2001 transferred ''Serapia'' to the

Proteopithecidae Proteopithecidae is an extinct family of primates which lived in the Priabonian (late Eocene) and probably early Oligocene periods. Fossils that have been found are in the Jebel Qatrani Formation in Egypt. Currently two genera are recognised, eac ...

, a view supported by Gunnell and Miller (2001), Beard (2002) and Seiffert et al. (2004 & 2005a). The examination of the dentistry of '' Arsinoea'' by Seiffert et al. led them to consider that ''Arsinoea'' may or may not be a parapithecid, although certainly parapithecoidal, and suggest that ''Arsinoea kallimos'' be treated as '

incertae sedis ' () or ''problematica'' is a term used for a taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertain ...

' within parapithecoidea. They separate the genus '' Qatrania'' into two, ''Abuqatrania'' for ''Qatrania basiodontos'' and ''Qatrania'' for the remaining species, and offer some support for Simons 2001 suggestion that ''Qatrania''/''Abuqatrania basiodontos'' may be ancestral to all other Parapithecidae, in particular noting that the fossils are 1 million years older than the next oldest parapithecid, ''Qatrania wingi''. Kay and Williams (2013, edited by Feagle and Kay), look at possible hypotheses about Parapithecidae:
- that they and Propliopithecidae are closely related, with their common ancestor being related to '' Oligopithecus'' and the common ancestor of all three being related to the

with more recent catarrhines (i.e.

and

) being descended from the Propliopithecidae;
- or that Parapithecidae and Propliopithecidae are closely related but their common ancestor is closely related to the platyrrhines and the common ancestor of all three being related to ''Oligopithecus'' with more recent catarrhines again being descended from the Propliopithecidae;
- or that Propliopithecidae and ''Oligopithecus'' are closely related, and Parapithecicae are related to the common ancestor of both and the common ancestor of all three is related to the

, with Cercopithecoidea being descended from the Parapithecidae and Hominoidea being descended from Propliopithecidae.Richard F. Kay, Blythe A Williams ''Anthropoid Origins: New Visions (Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects)'', Springer, 2013, page=365 Kay and Williams recognise two subfamilies within Parapithecidae - Parapithcinae (''Apidium'', ''Parapithecus'' and ''Simonsius''), which have dental features that indicate they are related, and Qatraniinae (''Arsinoea'', ''Qatrania'', ''Serapia''), which also share similar dental features to each other, but they are more primitive and the similarity may be because of shared lineage rather than being closely related.Richard F. Kay, Blythe A Williams ''Anthropoid Origins: New Visions (Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects)'', Springer, 2013, page=409

Genera

*†'' Apidium'' Osborn, 1908 *†'' Arsinoea'' Simons, 1992 *†'' Biretia'' Bonis et al., 1988 *†''

Parapithecus ''Parapithecus'' is an extinct genus of primate that lived during the Late Eocene- Earliest Oligocene in what is now Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northea ...

'' Schlosser, 1910 *†'' Qatrania'' (including ''Abuqatrania'') Simons & Kay, 1983 *†'' Ucayalipithecus'' Seiffert et al., 2020 *†'' Serapia'' Simons, 1992 *†'' Simonsius'' Gingerich, 1978

References

External links

biolib.czencyclopedia.com
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1443383 Prehistoric primates Primate families Eocene first appearances Oligocene extinctions Prehistoric mammal families