A fossil Colobus skull from the Sudan (Primates, Cercopithecidae)

A fossil monkey skull recovered from the Old Alluvium of presumed Pleistocene age near Wad Medani in the Central Sudan is described. This find represents a variant of Colobus polykomos abyssinicus, a living species whose habitat is restricted to forest canopy. Since this skull is not abraded and is unlikely to have been water-transported more than a few kilometers to its site of burial, it provides evidence that continuous forest cover once reached northwest across the Sudan to the vicinity of Wad Medani

Parapithecus grangeri (Parapithecidae, Old World higher primates): New species from the Oligocene of Egypt and the initial differentiation of Ceropithecoidea

Among many primate fossils from the badlands of Oligocene age in the Fayum Province, Egypt, are specimens of a new species of the genus Parapithecus. The new materials for the first time provide evidence of the upper dentition and mandibular materials show that all the early determinations as to the dental formula of the type species of Parapithecus, P. fraasi, were incorrect. The new species, P. grangeri, is here described. It is suggested that the family Parapithecidae is best ranked in Cerecopithecoidea and that, in fact, Parapithecus and Apidium are the earliest known cercopithecoids

The phyletic position of Ramapithecus

Recent discoveries of early Pleistocene hominids at Olduvai gorge, Tanganyika, by expeditions under the direction of Dr. L. S. B. Leakey have pushed back certain knowledge of fossil man almost to the beginning of this epoch…

Morphological trends in the molars of fossil rodents from the Fayum Depression, Egypt

While many of the mammalian taxa from the Fayum of Egypt, such as the primates and hyraxes, have been well-studied, little is known about the rodents. Species described to date have all been referred to the endemic family Phiomyidae. Many rodent species from this family have been named and their importance to biogeography addressed, but what this fauna can reveal about the palaeoenvironment of the Fayum has yet to be determined. The study of palaeoenvironmental trends begins with a general examination of species diversity and morphology of the specific rodent lineages. A statistical analysis of available molar measurements of Fayum rodents estimates general size and shape trends and changes in rodent diversity through the stratigraphic sequence of the Fayum. This analysis finds stability in species diversity and an increase in the average body size of taxa using molar length as an estimate of body size. The body size pattern of the rodents is similar to the pattern found among the Fayum primates. Analysis of molar length and width has been performed to test whether these variables could discriminate accurately between taxa. If molars that are too worn to be identified by cusp pattern can be identified confidently based on length and width, more specimens could be included in future analyses and a more accurate depiction of the small mammal fauna attained. Length is significantly different between most of the species, and several species can be identified by length and width alone. Length and width relationships were consistent for species within the same genus.National Science Foundatio

Early Cenozoic mammalian faunas, Fayum Province, Egypt: Part I. African Oligocene mammals: Introduction, history of study, and faunal succession. Part II. The African Oligocene Rodentia. Part II. The African Oligocene Rodentia.

Part I. The vertebrate microfaunas described in this paper have been recovered as a result of six seasons of paleontological exploration in the upper Eocene and Oligocene badlands exposures of the Fayum Province, U.A.R., a project initiated and directed by E. L. Simons.... Part II. The large Yale collections of rodents from the Early Oligocene Jebel el Qatrani Formation of the Fayum, Egypt, permit a thorough study of this, the earliest rodent faunule from Africa….https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/peabody_museum_natural_history_bulletin/1027/thumbnail.jp

A new species of Apterodon (Mammalia, Creodonta) from the Upper Eocene Qasr el-Sagha Formation of Egypt

The mandible of a medium-sized carnivore discovered by a recent Yale paleontological expedition to the Fayum Province of Egypt represents a new species of the creodont Apterodon. The type and only specimen of this new species, Apterodon saghensis, comes from the Upper Eocene Qasr el-Sagha Formation and thus represents the earliest terrestrial carnivore yet described from the African continent. Unfortunately the specimen contributes little to our understanding of the origin and relationships of Apterodon

An unusual new mammal from the Early Eocene of Wyoming

A newly discovered maxillary dentition from the Early Eocene rocks of the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, is unlike that of any mammal previously known from this intensively collected region. It represents a new genus and species, here named Alocodon atopum. The new form bears superficial resemblance to various mammals, but specific features suggest a real relationship only to palaeanodonts, particularly Tubulodon taylori, aformof uncertain family ties, and the epoicotheriid Pentapassalus pearcei. The most significant features of the molars are their cylindrical shape, their odd cusp arrangement, and their reduced enamel. Because of its similarity to Tubulodon, Alocodon is tentatively allocated here to the Epoicotheriidae (Pholidota, Palaeanodonta). If correctly assigned, it represents the oldest known member of this poorly represented family and the first from the Bighorn Basin

A frotarsius chatrathi, first tarsiiform primate (? Tarsiidae) from Africa

Tarsiiform primates have long been regarded as a Laurasian group, with an extensive fossil record in the Eocene of North America and EuropeI and two important but less well-known records from Asia

Family Podocnemididae.

237 p. : ill. ; 26 cm. "Issued April 29, 2011."The family Podocnemididae consists of 20 genera and 30 species considered here as valid and diagnosable by cranial characters. Three of these genera and eight species persist into the Recent fauna, barely reflecting the evolutionary diversity and distribution of the group. The family extends from the late Cretaceous to the Recent and occurs in North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. A phylogenetic analysis utilizes 31 podocnemidid taxa (30 named and one unnamed; a total of 37 taxa analyzed includes outgroups) in the Podocnemididae that are analyzed using PAUP. The resulting consensus of nine equally parsimonious cladograms is the basis for a new classification of the family. The family Podocnemididae is reconfirmed as monophyletic, using the unique possession of a cavum pterygoidei formed by the basisphenoid, pterygoid, prootic, and quadrate, underlain by the pterygoid and basisphenoid, among other characters. Much of our resolution agrees with that of França and Langer (2006), which can be modified and restated as follows: (Bauruemys (vilavilensis (Podocnemis (Peltocephalus, Erymnochelys)))). The two clades proposed by Broin (1991) and Lapparent de Broin (2000b, 2001, 2003a, 2003b), designated by her as the "subfamily Podocnemidinae" and the "subfamily Erymnochelinae," are inconsistent with our analysis. In our analysis the "Podocnemidinae" (sensu Broin, 1991) is paraphyletic, and the "Erymnochelinae" (sensu Broin, 1991) could be made monophyletic, with the important addition of Peltocephalus (placed in the "Podocnemidinae" by Broin). We add a number of new taxa to the basal Podocnemididae and to the broad-jawed subtribe Stereogenyina. Within the family Podocnemididae Cope, 1868, the sister taxon to all other podocnemidids and recognized as the subfamily Bauruemydinae, new, is Bauruemys elegans (Suárez, 1969a), known from associated skulls and shells. All other podocnemidids, the redefined subfamily Podocnemidinae Cope, 1868, are united by a slight to absent temporal emargination, a completely closed foramen jugulare posterius, and saddle-shaped cervical centra (modified as a separate state in Erymnochelys). A basal group of Cretaceous-Paleocene podocnemidids that are the sister group to all remaining podocnemidids, here termed the infrafamily Peiropemydodda, consisting of two taxa from the late Cretaceous of Brazil, Peiropemys mezzalirai, n. gen. et sp., and Pricemys caiera, n. gen. et sp., and Lapparentemys vilavilensis (Broin, 1971), n. gen., from the Paleocene of Bolivia. The resolution of the basal members of the family is: (Bauruemys (Pricemys (Lapparentemys, Peiropemys)) (Infrafamily Podocnemidodda)). The remaining podocnemidids form the infrafamily Podocnemidodda Cope, 1868, new rank, and is characterized by the possession of a cheek emargination that does not reach above the level of the orbit, the medial expansion of the triturating surfaces with a median maxillary ridge present, and the presence of accessory ridges on the triturating surfaces. This group contains the living podocnemidids and a series of extinct forms, including the marine broad-jawed taxa. Within the Podocnemidodda, the genus Podocnemis is the sister group to all the remaining taxa, which is the magnatribe Erymnochelydand. When only the living fauna is considered our results show Podocnemis as the sister taxon to Erymnochelys plus Peltocephalus, in common with Williams (1954c), Franc¸a and Langer (2006), Meylan et al. (2009), and Cadena et al. (2010). With the fossil taxa present, the Erymnochelydand is united only by the small to absent cheek emargination. However, some of the fossil taxa (i.e., Caninemys, Dacquemys), are not known for a number of characters, and, if the analysis is reduced to include only the living species, Erymnochelys and Peltocephalus are united by a greater number of characters: cavum pterygoidei with enlarged anterior opening, so that the foramen cavernosum enters the roof of the cavum pterygoidei, orbits facing anterolaterally, jugal-quadrate contact present, cheek emargination slight to absent, horizontal occipital shelf absent, premaxillae reach apertura narium interna (also in some Podocnemis), supraoccipital roof exposure slight or absent, chorda tympani enclosed in processus retroarticularis, neural series extends to costal six, and axillary musk duct not in bridge. When one considers just the Recent genera, none of the published molecular results reproduce the Gaffney and Meylan (1988) and Lapparent de Broin (2000b) resolution of (Erymnochelys (Podocnemis, Peltocephalus)); rather these publications show a preference for the (Peltocephalus (Podocnemis, Erymnochelys)) arrangement, while we, in agreement with Franc¸a and Langer (2006) and the earlier version of the present data set, Meylan et al. (2009), place our marbles with the third alternative, (Podocnemis (Peltocephalus, Erymnochelys)). This latter hypothesis has a number of characters favoring its resolution, even when fossils are excluded. One of the more compelling ones is the large cavum pterygoidei with an enlarged anterior opening and the foramen cavernosum containing the lateral head vein, entering the roof of the cavum pterygoidei. Within the magnatribe Erymnochelydand are the following taxa: Caninemys, Dacquemys, unnamed genus UCMP 42008, Albertwoodemys, Turkanemys, Peltocephalus, Erymnochelys, Neochelys, Papoulemys, and the members of the tribe Stereogenyini (see below). The resolution of Caninemys within the Erymnochelydand is not strongly supported; in only one step it becomes a multichotomy with Podocnemis and the infrafamily Peiropemydodda. Neochelys, Papoulemys (possibly a synonym of Neochelys), and Dacquemys, however, are strongly supported as part of the magnatribe Erymnochelydand, as proposed earlier (Broin, 1991; Lapparent de Broin, 2000b, 2001, 2003a, 2003b). A new shell-based taxon, Albertwoodemys testudinum, n. gen. et sp., and an unnamed skull and shell, UCMP 42008, are united by a high-domed shell with thick lateral ridges along the plastron and the absence/fusion of the pectoral scales. The skull of UCMP 42008 agrees with that in Dacquemys in having large parietals and a supraoccipital covering the posterior margin. Lacking a skull, Albertwoodemys is not entered into the data set, but the skull-shell specimen of the closely related UCMP 42008 is in the analysis. New skull material identifiable as Neochelys has been discovered associated with shells of ‘‘Podocnemis’’ fajumensis Andrews, 1903, resulting in the new combination Neochelys fajumensis (Andrews, 1903). Neochelys has the Erymnochelydand synapomorphy of a large cavum pterygoidei with an enlarged anterior opening and the foramen cavernosum entering the roof of the cavum pterygoidei, as in Peltocephalus and Erymnochelys. The European Neochelys species are Eocene and the African Fayum species is Early Oligocene, extending both spatial and temporal ranges of the genus. The tribe Stereogenyini has a dorsal process of the palatine that reaches the frontal in the septum orbitotemporale, the fossa precolumellaris is absent, and both foramina nervi hypoglossi are combined and recessed in a short canal that opens on the occipital surface. Within the tribe Stereogenyini, Mogharemys blanckenhorni Dacque´ (1912), n. gen., is the sister taxon to the welldefined subtribe Stereogenyina. Two groups are recognized within the subtribe Stereogenyina. The infratribe Bairdemydita contains Bairdemys Gaffney and Wood, Latentemys plowdeni, n. gen. et sp., Cordichelys antiqua (Andrews, 1903), n. gen. The infratribe Stereogenyita contains Brontochelys gaffneyi (Wood, 1970), n. gen., Lemurchelys diasphax, n. gen. et sp., Shweboemys Swinton, 1939, and Stereogenys Andrews, 1901. The subtribe Stereogenyina is strongly supported by a secondary palate with a median cleft, unique among turtles, as well as other characters. While the other Podocnemididae were apparently freshwater species, there is evidence that many or all of the subtribe Stereogenyina were marine or near-shore marine. Compared with a group such as the Bothremydidae, we see in the evolution of the Podocnemididae, a relatively conservative series of South American paraphyletic taxa with an unusually persistent cranial as well as shell morphology, beginning in the Late Cretaceous with Bauruemys, Peiropemys, and Pricemys, and continuing with the Paleocene Lapparentemys, culminating in the Recent Podocnemis. A monophyletic Tertiary group with more geographic, taxonomic, and morphologic diversity, the magnatribe Erymnochelydand, contains African, European, Asian, and South American taxa, as well as a radiation of marine, broad-jawed species in the mid-Tertiary. The living remnants of the Erymnochelydand are the South American Peltocephalus and the African Erymnochelys, close relatives despite their current geographic separation