Dolichopithecus balcanicus sp. nov., a new Colobinae (Primates, Cercopithecidae) from the early Pliocene of southeastern Europe, with a discussion on the taxonomy of the genus

First discovery of colobine fossils from the Late Miocene/Early Pliocene in central Myanmar

“…Myanmarcolobus is most similar to Dolichopithecus, especially to the specimens from the Early Pliocene of southeastern Europe, such as Dolichopithecus hypsilophus (Fig. 5b) and Dolichopithecus balcanicus, among fossil colobines discovered in Eurasia (Koufos et al, 1991;Maschenko, 1991Maschenko, , 2005Delson et al, 2005;Spassov and Geraads, 2007). However, large size differences in the lower molars between Myanmarcolobus and Dolichopithecus and the cohesiveness of lower molar size in Dolichopithecus suggest heterogeneity between them (Fig.…”

“…Moreover, Myanmarcolobus shows neither a tendency for hypoconulid reduction on M 3 , a typical feature of the extant Presbytis, nor the basal swelling of the tooth crown (exodaenodonty), a typical character of the extant Semnopithecus and Rhinopithecus. Only (9) 5.47 (9) 5.64 (9) 4.47 (9) 4.61 (9) 5.72 (9) 4.9 (9) 5.04 (9) 6.09 (9) 4.72 (9) 4.5 (9) Heintz et al (1981), Koufos et al (1991), Spassov and Geraads (2007), and PRIMO (Primate Morphometrics Online), the NYCEP Primate Morphometric database. MD: mesiodistal length (mm).…”

The remains of a large cercopithecid from the Lower Pleistocene locality of Karnezeika (southern Greece)

“…In addition, another colobine monkey, Dolichopithecus, is known from the Lower Pliocene locality Megalo Embolo near Thessaloniki (Koufos et al 1991) and from a few isolated dental specimens found in the Ptolemais Basin (Doukas & de Bruijn 2002). Spassov & Geraads (2007) included the Megalo Embolo remains to a new species, Dolichopithecus balcanicus Spassov & Geraads 2007. However, this opinion was not followed by Koufos (2009Koufos ( , 2022, who continued to refer the Megalo Embolo sample to Dolichopithecuruscinensis Depéret 1889.…”