''Parapresbytis'' is an extinct genus of

colobine monkey The Colobinae or leaf-eating monkeys are a family (biology), subfamily of the Old World monkey family that includes 61 species in 11 genus, genera, including the black-and-white colobus, the large-nosed proboscis monkey, and the gray langurs. So ...

that lived in northeast Asia during the Mid-Late

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Transbaikal Transbaikal, Trans-Baikal, Transbaikalia ( rus, Забайка́лье, r=Zabaykalye, p=zəbɐjˈkalʲjɪ), or Dauria (, ''Dauriya'') is a mountainous region to the east of or "beyond" (trans-) Lake Baikal in Far Eastern Russia. The steppe and ...

area.

Taxonomy

''Parapresbytis eohanuman'' was once considered a species of ''

Dolichopithecus ''Dolichopithecus'' is an extinct genus of Old World monkey that lived in Europe during the Late Miocene and Pliocene. Taxonomy The type species ''Dolichopithecus ruscinensis'' was first described in 1889 by Charles Depéret, based on fossil re ...

'', but was found to be distinct. There is debate as to its exact position within Colobinae, with some researchers considering it an ancestor to certain Asian colobines such as

snub-nosed monkeys __NOTOC__ Snub-nosed monkeys are a group of Old World monkeys and make up the entirety of the genus ''Rhinopithecus''. The genus is rare and not fully researched. Some taxonomists group snub-nosed monkeys together with the genus ''Pygathrix''. Sn ...

, and others considering it a member of a primitive colobine radiation that includes ''Dolichopithecus'' and left no descendants. ''Parapresbytis'' seems to display a mosiac of distinct features shared with different living Asian colobine species, making its placement uncertain.

Description

''Parapresbytis'' was a large monkey, with an ulnar comparable in size to a

chacma baboon The chacma baboon (''Papio ursinus''), also known as the Cape baboon, is, like all other baboons, from the Old World monkey family. It is one of the largest of all monkeys. Located primarily in southern Africa, the chacma baboon has a wide vari ...

. It has been estimated to weigh in at over . Despite its size, the elbow morphology of ''Parapresbytis'' indicates that it was a climber and thus it can be assumed that it lived a mostly arboreal lifestyle. This matches well with the palaeoclimate of Pliocene northeast Asia, which at the time when ''Parapresbytis'' was living, would have been covered in warm forests.

References

{{Reflist Colobinae Pliocene primates Pliocene mammals of Asia Prehistoric primate genera