Hispaniola Monkey

Taxobox
name = Hispaniola Monkey
fossil_range = Oligocene-Miocene
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Primates
familia = Pitheciidae
subfamilia = Callicebinae
tribus = Xenotrichini
genus = †"Antillothrix"
genus_authority =
species = †"A. bernensis"
binomial = †"Antillothrix bernensis"
binomial_authority = Rímoli, 1977
synonyms = "Saimiri bernensis"The Hispaniola Monkey ("Antillothrix bernensis") is an extinct primate found on the island of Hispaniola. The species is thought to have gone extinct around the 16th century. The exact timing and cause of the extinction are unclear, but it is likely related to the settlement of Hispaniola by the Europeans in 1492 after discovery by Christopher Columbus.

At first, the Hispaniola Monkey was thought to be a close relative of the Capuchin monkeys, but later investigation showed that the similarities were due to convergent development.

Horovitz and MacPhee [Horovitz, I. & MacPhee, R.D.E. (1999). The quaternary Cuban platyrrhine Paralouatta varonai and the origin of the Antillean monkeys. Journal of Human Evolution, 36: 33-68.] developed the hypothesis, first proposed by MacPhee et al. [MacPhee, R.D.E. et al. (1995). A New Genus for the Extinct Hispaniolan Monkey Saimiri bernensis Rímoli, 1977, with Notes on Its Systematic Position. American Museum Novitates, 3134, 21 pp.] , that all the Antillean monkeys (the others being the two Cuban monkey species of genus "Paralouatta" and "Xenothrix mcgregori" of Jamaica) belonged to a monophyletic group linked most closely with modern Callicebus. They later assigned the Antillean monkeys to the tribe XenotrichiniMacPhee, R.D.E. & Horovitz, I. (2004). New Craniodental Remains of the Quaternary Jamaican Monkey Xenothrix mcgregori (Xenotrichini, Callicebinae, Pitheciidae), with a Reconsideration of the Aotus Hypothesis. American Museum Novitates 3434: 51 pp.] – the sister group of the tribe Callicebini with extensive anatomical comparisons and by extending their parsimony analysis using PAUP*. [Swofford, D.L. (2002) PAUP*: phylogenetic analysis using parsimony (* and other methods) Version 4. Sinauer, Sunderland, MA] They maintained that the monophyly of the Antillean monkeys was still supported in the most parsimonious trees, but in slightly less parsimonious trees, Aotus did appear to be linked with Xenothrix.

References