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Nuciruptor

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Extinct genus of monkeys

Nuciruptor
Temporal range: Middle Miocene (Laventan)
~13.5–13.0 Ma PreꞒ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Suborder: Haplorhini
Infraorder: Simiiformes
Family: Pitheciidae
Subfamily: Pitheciinae
Genus: Nuciruptor
Meldrum & Kay 1997
Species

Nuciruptor is an extinct genus of New World monkeys from the Middle Miocene (Laventan in the South American land mammal ages; 13.8 to 11.8 million years ago). Its remains have been found at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte of La Venta in the Honda Group of Colombia. The type species is N. rubricae.

Etymology

The generic name Nuciruptor rubricae is derived from the Latin nuci ("nut") and ruptor meaning "to break". The specific rubricae refers to the red beds where the fossils have been found.

Description

A lower mandible fossil of Nuciruptor was discovered in the El Cardón redbeds of the Cerro Colorado Member of the Villavieja Formation, Honda Group, just below the San Francisco Sandstone, which has been dated to the Laventan, about 12.8 ± 0.2 million years old. From the same locality, fossils of Saimiri annectens were recovered.

Nuciruptor resembles living pitheciins in having elongated, procumbent, and styliform lower incisors with very weak lingual heels. Moreover, as in living pitheciins, the incisors are set in a procumbently oriented mandibular symphysis, and its mandibular corpus deepens appreciably under the molars. At the same time, Nuciruptor does not possess several of the distinctive synapomorphies of extant pitheciins. Nuciruptor remains more primitive than living pitheciins in that no diastemata separate its lower incisors from the canines. Its lower canines retain the primitive structure in not having a sharply defined protocristid. P2 is not a robust or high-crowned tooth and does not have a metaconid. Neither are the other premolars molarised by the addition of large talonids. The estimated weight of Nuciruptor was 2,000 grams (4.4 lb). The genus shows similarity with another fossil primate from La Venta, Cebupithecia.

As Cebupithecia, Nuciruptor is thought to be an ancestral saki (Pitheciidae).

Habitat

See also: Honda Group, Colombia § Paleoclimate and vegetation

The Honda Group, and more precisely the "Monkey Beds", are the richest site for fossil primates in South America. The monkeys of the Honda Group arguably were living in habitat that was in contact with the Amazon and Orinoco Basins, and that La Venta itself was probably seasonally dry forest.

See also

References

  1. Nuciruptor rubricae in the Paleobiology Database
  2. ^ Kay & Meldrum, 1997, p.409
  3. Kay & Meldrum, 1997, p.410
  4. Kay & Meldrum, 1997, p.437
  5. Kay & Meldrum, 1997, p.421
  6. Silvestro, 2017, p.14
  7. Defler, 2004, p.34
  8. Takai et al., 2001, p.290
  9. Tejedor, 2013, p.28
  10. Rosenberger & Hartwig, 2001, p.3
  11. Lynch Alfaro et al., 2015, p.520

Bibliography

Further reading

Paleontology in Colombia
Notable
researchers
After 1900
19th century
Nuciruptor is located in ColombiaBogotá FormationCerrejón FormationFloresta FormationHiló FormationValle Alto FormationPaja FormationHonda Group
Major
fossiliferous
stratigraphic units
Pleistocene
Neogene
Paleogene
Cretaceous
Jurassic
Devonian
Notable fossils
Pleistocene
Honda Gp.
Gualanday Gp.
Bogotá Fm.
Cerrejón Fm.
Oliní Gp.
Hondita Fm.
Hiló Fm.
Paja Fm.
Arcabuco Fm.
Valle Alto Fm.
Cuche Fm.
Floresta Fm.
CategoryImages
Haplorhini
Haplorhini
"Omomyidae"
Microchoerinae
"Anaptomorphinae"
"Omomyinae"
Tarkadectinae
Tarsiiformes
Tarsiidae
Simiiformes
    • see below↓
Teilhardina sp.
Simiiformes
Simiiformes
Afrotarsiidae?
Eosimiidae
Amphipithecidae
Parapithecoidea
Proteopithecidae
Parapithecidae
Platyrrhini
Aotidae
Pitheciidae
Atelidae
Cebidae
Callitrichidae
Catarrhini
    • see below↓
Eosimias sinensis
Catarrhini
Catarrhini
Oligopithecidae
Propliopithecidae
Pliopithecoidea
Pliopithecidae
Dionysopithecidae
Crouzeliidae
Cercopithecoidea
Victoriapithecidae
Colobinae
Cercopithecinae
Cercopithecini
Papionini
Hominoidea
    • see below↓
Aegyptopithecus zeuxis
Hominoidea
Hominoidea
Dendropithecidae
Hylobatidae
Hominidae
Ponginae
Homininae
Dryopithecini
Gorillini
Hominini
Hominina
Gigantopithecus blacki
Taxon identifiers
Nuciruptor
Categories:
Nuciruptor Add topic