Branisella boliviana
Encyclopedia
Branisella is an extinct genus of New World monkey
from the Salla formation of what is now Bolivia
during the late Oligocene
, approximately 26 million years ago.
It is the oldest fossil New World Monkey discovered.
It was found in Bolivia by the paleontologist Leonardo Branisa, and it was named after him by Hoffstetter, the scientist who first described and classified it in 1969. Morphologically, it is similar to Proteopithecus, an Oligocene primate from Africa, in its reduced upper second premolar and unreduced lower second premolar. This has led many scientists to hypothesize that the primitive platyrrhine ancestors of Branisella came to South America from Africa. Other features, however, suggest that it may have been related to the omomyids, an extinct group of tarsier
-like primates found in North America, among other places.
Within platyrrhines, this taxon has been interpreted as either a stem platyrrhine not related to any of the living forms, or as a primitive callitrichine. As Branisella is currently the only South American primate taxon known until the Miocene
, more fossils are needed before it's phylogenetic position can be clearly established.
The cheek teeth of Branisella are very high-crowned suggesting that it might have been somewhat terrestrial, although this hypothesis cannot be confirmed from bones of the postcranial skeleton (there are none). The known dental specimens show extremely heavy and rapid wear and the first molar tooth is far more worn than the last, suggesting that it included abrasive foods in its diet with very poorly developed cutting edges indicating a diet of fruit. One specimen retains a small part of the orbit and indicates that Branisella had small eyes and was diurnal.
New World monkey
New World monkeys are the five families of primates that are found in Central and South America: Callitrichidae, Cebidae, Aotidae, Pitheciidae, and Atelidae. The five families are ranked together as the Platyrrhini parvorder and the Ceboidea superfamily, which are essentially synonymous since...
from the Salla formation of what is now Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
during the late Oligocene
Oligocene
The Oligocene is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 34 million to 23 million years before the present . As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the period are slightly...
, approximately 26 million years ago.
It is the oldest fossil New World Monkey discovered.
It was found in Bolivia by the paleontologist Leonardo Branisa, and it was named after him by Hoffstetter, the scientist who first described and classified it in 1969. Morphologically, it is similar to Proteopithecus, an Oligocene primate from Africa, in its reduced upper second premolar and unreduced lower second premolar. This has led many scientists to hypothesize that the primitive platyrrhine ancestors of Branisella came to South America from Africa. Other features, however, suggest that it may have been related to the omomyids, an extinct group of tarsier
Tarsier
Tarsiers are haplorrhine primates of the genus Tarsius, a genus in the family Tarsiidae, which is itself the lone extant family within the infraorder Tarsiiformes...
-like primates found in North America, among other places.
Within platyrrhines, this taxon has been interpreted as either a stem platyrrhine not related to any of the living forms, or as a primitive callitrichine. As Branisella is currently the only South American primate taxon known until the Miocene
Miocene
The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...
, more fossils are needed before it's phylogenetic position can be clearly established.
The cheek teeth of Branisella are very high-crowned suggesting that it might have been somewhat terrestrial, although this hypothesis cannot be confirmed from bones of the postcranial skeleton (there are none). The known dental specimens show extremely heavy and rapid wear and the first molar tooth is far more worn than the last, suggesting that it included abrasive foods in its diet with very poorly developed cutting edges indicating a diet of fruit. One specimen retains a small part of the orbit and indicates that Branisella had small eyes and was diurnal.