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Pliopithecidae

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pliopithecidae
Temporal range: Early Miocene–Pliocene
Dendropithecus macinnesi fossil
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Suborder: Haplorhini
Infraorder: Simiiformes
Parvorder: Catarrhini
Superfamily: Pliopithecoidea
Family: Pliopithecidae
Subfamilies

Crouzeliinae
Pliopithecinae
Dionysopithecinae

The family Pliopithecidae is an extinct family of fossil catarrhines and members of the Pliopithecoidea superfamily.

Their anatomy combined primitive features such as a small braincase, a long snout, and a tail. At the same time, they possessed more advanced features such as stereoscopic vision and ape-like teeth and jaws, clearly distinguishing them from monkeys.[1]

Begun and Harrison divide the Pliopithecidae into subfamilies Pliopithecinae and Crouzeliinae.[2] Dionysopithecinae are sometimes placed here as a subfamily,[3] but Begun & Harrison place them in their own family, the Dionysopithecidae.[2]

References

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  1. ^ Palmer, D., ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. pp. 290–291. ISBN 1-84028-152-9.
  2. ^ a b Harrison, Terry (2012). "Chapter 20 Catarrhine Origins". In Begun, David (ed.). A Companion To Paleoanthropology. Wiley Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-118-33237-5. Alt URL
  3. ^ Harrison, T; Gu, Y (1999). "Taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships of early Miocene catarrhines from Sihong, China". Journal of Human Evolution. 37 (2): 225. Bibcode:1999JHumE..37..225H. doi:10.1006/jhev.1999.0310.
  • The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Prehistoric World page 434.