title: Early cercopithecid monkeys from the Tugen Hills, Kenya.
abstract: The modern Old World Monkeys (Superfamily Cercopithecoidea, Family Cercopithecidae) can be traced back into the late Miocene, but their origin and subsequent diversification is obscured by the scarcity of terrestrial fossil sites in Africa between 15 and 6 Ma. Here, we document the presence of cercopithecids at 12.5 Ma in the Tugen Hills of Kenya. These fossils add 3 My to the known antiquity of crown Cercopithecidae. The two specimens represent one or possibly two species of early colobine, and their morphology suggests that they were less folivorous than their modern relatives.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-4364, USA. james.rossie@stonybrook.edu
authors.forename: James B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Rossie
authors.forename: Christopher C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Gilbert
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hill
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002520:Cercopithecidae / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005580:Fossils; D019015:Geologic Sediments; D007630:Kenya; D008963:Molar / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D010163:Paleontology; D010802:Phylogeny