TY - JOUR
T1 - A new species of fossil guenon (Cercopithecini, Cercopithecidae) from the Early Pleistocene Lower Ngaloba Beds, Laetoli, Tanzania
AU - Arenson, Julia L.
AU - Harrison, Terry
AU - Sargis, Eric J.
AU - Taboada, Hannah G.
AU - Gilbert, Christopher C.
N1 - Funding Information:
Research in Tanzania and access to fossil collections was granted by the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology , the Department of Antiquities , and the National Museum of Tanzania . We thank the following curators and collection managers for access to collections in their care: Amandus Kweka and Agness Gidna, National Museum of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam; Job Kibii, Jimmy Yatich, and Justus Erus, National Museum of Kenya, Nairobi; Neil Duncan, Eleanor Hoeger, Marisa Surovy, and Sara Ketelsen, Department of Mammalogy, American Museum of Natural History, New York; Adam Ferguson and Lauren Smith, Department of Mammals, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago; Darrin Lunde, Division of Mammals, United States National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C; Emmanuel Gilissen and Wim Wendelen, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium; Mark Omura, Department of Mammalogy, Harvard University Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge; and Malcolm Harman, the Powell-Cotton Museum, Birchington-on-Sea, United Kingdom. We thank Eric Delson and colleagues for access to the NYCEP PRImate Morphometrics Online (PRIMO) database. We also thank Emma Curtis for help with data collection. Finally, we thank Clément Zanolli, David Alba, and three anonymous reviewers for their detailed and helpful comments, which have improved this manuscript. Photographs of Museum of Comparative Zoology specimens are copyrighted by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. This study was generously supported by the National Science Foundation ( IGERT #0333415 [NYCEP] , GRFP Award #40F79-02 04 , #BCS-2018093 , #BCS-0309513 , #BCS-0216683 and #BSC-1350023 ), the American Association of Physical Anthropologists Professional Development Grant Program , the PSC-CUNY Faculty Research Award Program (Award #60347-00 48 ), and the Hunter College Presidential Travel Award Program .
Funding Information:
Research in Tanzania and access to fossil collections was granted by the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology, the Department of Antiquities, and the National Museum of Tanzania. We thank the following curators and collection managers for access to collections in their care: Amandus Kweka and Agness Gidna, National Museum of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam; Job Kibii, Jimmy Yatich, and Justus Erus, National Museum of Kenya, Nairobi; Neil Duncan, Eleanor Hoeger, Marisa Surovy, and Sara Ketelsen, Department of Mammalogy, American Museum of Natural History, New York; Adam Ferguson and Lauren Smith, Department of Mammals, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago; Darrin Lunde, Division of Mammals, United States National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C; Emmanuel Gilissen and Wim Wendelen, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium; Mark Omura, Department of Mammalogy, Harvard University Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge; and Malcolm Harman, the Powell-Cotton Museum, Birchington-on-Sea, United Kingdom. We thank Eric Delson and colleagues for access to the NYCEP PRImate Morphometrics Online (PRIMO) database. We also thank Emma Curtis for help with data collection. Finally, we thank Cl?ment Zanolli, David Alba, and three anonymous reviewers for their detailed and helpful comments, which have improved this manuscript. Photographs of Museum of Comparative Zoology specimens are copyrighted by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. This study was generously supported by the National Science Foundation (IGERT #0333415 [NYCEP], GRFP Award #40F79-02 04, #BCS-2018093, #BCS-0309513, #BCS-0216683 and #BSC-1350023), the American Association of Physical Anthropologists Professional Development Grant Program, the PSC-CUNY Faculty Research Award Program (Award #60347-00 48), and the Hunter College Presidential Travel Award Program.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2022/2
Y1 - 2022/2
N2 - The living guenons (Cercopithecini, Cercopithecidae) are speciose and widely distributed across sub-Saharan Africa but are poorly represented in the fossil record. In addition, the craniodental and skeletal similarity of the guenons has hampered the identification of fragmentary material, likely obscuring the taxonomic diversity represented in the fossil record. Here, we describe a new fossil guenon specimen (LAET 75-3703) from the Lower Ngaloba Beds, Laetoli in Tanzania, dated to ∼1.7–1.2 Ma and preserving the lower face and mandible. Comparison to 278 extant guenon specimens, representing all six extant genera, identified several informative traits for distinguishing between the morphologically similar Chlorocebus and Cercopithecus, and these support the attribution of LAET 75-3703 to Chlorocebus. A discriminant function analysis of seven craniodental indices on a subsample of Chlorocebus and Cercopithecus was robust with an overall correct classification rate of 80.4%, and it classified LAET 75-3703 as a member of Chlorocebus with a posterior probability of 92.7%. LAET 75-3703 shares with Chlorocebus the presence of small ‘thumbprint’ depressions on the maxilla; a tall, narrow, and diamond-shaped nasal aperture; a relatively longer and shallower face; relatively buccolingually broader molars; and a shallow mandible that decreases in depth posteriorly. In addition, LAET 75-3703 is distinguished from all extant guenons, including other species of Chlorocebus, in having a very small P3 relative to M1 area. As such, LAET 75-3703 is assigned to a new species, Chlorocebus ngedere sp. nov. This specimen represents the first cercopithecin from Laetoli, as well as the oldest fossil cercopithecin confidently attributed to a modern genus.
AB - The living guenons (Cercopithecini, Cercopithecidae) are speciose and widely distributed across sub-Saharan Africa but are poorly represented in the fossil record. In addition, the craniodental and skeletal similarity of the guenons has hampered the identification of fragmentary material, likely obscuring the taxonomic diversity represented in the fossil record. Here, we describe a new fossil guenon specimen (LAET 75-3703) from the Lower Ngaloba Beds, Laetoli in Tanzania, dated to ∼1.7–1.2 Ma and preserving the lower face and mandible. Comparison to 278 extant guenon specimens, representing all six extant genera, identified several informative traits for distinguishing between the morphologically similar Chlorocebus and Cercopithecus, and these support the attribution of LAET 75-3703 to Chlorocebus. A discriminant function analysis of seven craniodental indices on a subsample of Chlorocebus and Cercopithecus was robust with an overall correct classification rate of 80.4%, and it classified LAET 75-3703 as a member of Chlorocebus with a posterior probability of 92.7%. LAET 75-3703 shares with Chlorocebus the presence of small ‘thumbprint’ depressions on the maxilla; a tall, narrow, and diamond-shaped nasal aperture; a relatively longer and shallower face; relatively buccolingually broader molars; and a shallow mandible that decreases in depth posteriorly. In addition, LAET 75-3703 is distinguished from all extant guenons, including other species of Chlorocebus, in having a very small P3 relative to M1 area. As such, LAET 75-3703 is assigned to a new species, Chlorocebus ngedere sp. nov. This specimen represents the first cercopithecin from Laetoli, as well as the oldest fossil cercopithecin confidently attributed to a modern genus.
KW - Cercopithecin
KW - Cercopithecus
KW - Chlorocebus
KW - Cranium
KW - Dentition
KW - Mandible
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103136
DO - 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103136
M3 - Article
C2 - 35033736
AN - SCOPUS:85122689648
SN - 0047-2484
VL - 163
JO - Journal of Human Evolution
JF - Journal of Human Evolution
M1 - 103136
ER -