Cenozoic Primates of eastern Eurasia (Russia and adjacent areas)

Abstract

In the Eocene, distribution of the order Primates in the northern part of eastern Eurasia was confined to Mongolia. A form of Omomyidae (Altanius orlovi) is represented. Northern Eurasian primates attributed to later times cover the interval between the Late Miocene (Late Turolian) to the Middle Pleistocene (Mindel-Riss). Primates are distributed in the western part of eastern Eurasia (Moldavia, Ukraine), Transcaucasus (Georgia, Iranian Azerbaijan) and Central Asia (Tadjikistan, Afghanistan, Transbaikalian, Mongolia). The total number of known primate taxa is not large: seven genera and eleven species in three families (Omomyidae, Hominidae, Cercopithecidae). The Neogene and Pleistocene representatives of the order Primates comprise either widely distributed Eurasian forms or endemic taxa. The distribution pattern of primates in the western and eastern part of eastern Eurasia can be interpreted in relation to links with African and East Asian faunal provinces. By the Late Pleistocene all non-human representatives of the order Primates in the northern part of eastern Eurasia became extinct.

Distal humerus and ulna of Parapresbytis (Colobinae) from the Pliocene of Russia and Mongolia: phylogenetic and ecological implications based on elbow morphology

“…Although Parapresbytis has been claimed to be closer to some arboreal taxa such as Presbytis (Borisoglebskaya, 1981), Rhinopithecus (Jablonski. 2002;Maschenko, 2005;Kalmykov et al, 2005), and Pygathrix (Jablonski. 2002), based on dentognathic morphologies and the robustness of the skeletal materials, the elbow morphology does not suggest phylogenetic closeness between Parapresbytis and any particular arboreal colobine.…”

“…Parapresbytis from Siberia has the most northern distribution of all the colobines, and its occurrence is peculiarly isolated from the other Neogene primate localities in Eurasia (Jablonski, 2002;Fortelius, 2003). The phylogenetic position of the genus and the nature of its adaptation to such high latitudes are still the subject of debate (Delson, 1988(Delson, , 1994Kalmykov andMaschenko, 1992, 1995;Jablonski, 2002;Kalmykov et al, 2005;Maschenko, 2005).…”

“…The complete dentition is known (i.e. I1/-M3/ for the Udunga materials and i/1-m/3 for the Shamar materials), and based on their morphology and size, the materials from the two localities are considered to belong to the same species (Kalmykov andMaschenko, 1992, 1995;Maschenko, 2005). Kalmykov and Maschenko (1992) erected a new genus, Parapresbytis, for the species.…”

“…Kalmykov and Maschenko (1992) erected a new genus, Parapresbytis, for the species. Maschenko (2005) and Kalmykov et al (2005) suggested that Parapresbytis is a member of Rhinopithecomorpha. On the other hand, Jablonski (2002) noted that Parapresbytis has dental and postcranial similarities to Semnopithecus, Nasalis, Pygathrix, and Rhinopithecus.…”

“…Jablonski (2002) assigned the substrate preference of Parapresbytis as "?terrestrial". Maschenko (2005) suggested that Parapresbytis is arboreally adapted based on postcranial comparisons with Macaca and Papio. This study aims to clarify the characteristics of the elbow morphology of Parapresbytis in comparison with those of other arboreal and terrestrial colobines.…”