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{{Short description|Extinct genus of primates}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = <br>20–15 Million years ago
| image = Dendropithecus macinnesi.JPG
| image_caption = ''Dendropithecus macinnesi'' jaw
| taxon = Dendropithecus
| authority = Andrews and Simons, 1977
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision = *''D. macinnesi'' (Clark and Leakey, 1950) ([[type species]])
*''D. ugandensis'' (Pickford ''et al.'', 2010)
}}

'''''Dendropithecus''''' is an extinct [[genus]] of apes native to [[East Africa]] between 20 and 15 million years ago. ''Dendropithecus'' was originally suggested to be related to modern [[gibbon]]s, based primarily on similarities in size, dentition, and skeletal adaptations.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Andrews|first1=Peter|last2=Simons|first2=Elwyn|date=1977|title=A New African Miocene Gibbon-Like Genus, ''Dendropithecus'' (Hominoidea, Primates) with Distinctive Postcranial Adaptations: Its Significance to Origin of Hylobatidae|url=https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/155807|journal=Folia Primatologica|language=english|volume=28|issue=3|pages=161–169|doi=10.1159/000155807|pmid=914128|issn=0015-5713|url-access=subscription}}</ref> However, further studies have shown that ''Dendropithecus'' lacks [[Synapomorphy|derived]] [[hominoid]] traits. Instead, the traits shared between this taxon and modern primates are [[Primitive (phylogenetics)|primitive]] for all [[Catarrhini|catarrhines]]. ''Dendropithecus'' is now considered to be a [[Stem-group|stem]] catarrhine, too primitive to be closely related to any modern primates.<ref>Harrison, T., 2013. Catarrhine origins. In: Begun, D.R. (Ed.), ''A Companion to Paleoanthropology''. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 376-396.</ref>
==Description==
''Dendropithecus'' was a slender ape, about {{convert|60|cm|ft}} in body length. The structure of its arms suggest that it would have been able to [[brachiate]], swinging between trees by its arms, but that it would not have been as efficient at this form of movement as modern gibbons. However, its teeth suggest a very gibbon-like diet, likely consisting of fruit, soft leaves and flowers.<ref name="EoDP">{{cite book|title=The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals|publisher=Marshall Editions|year=1999|isbn=1-84028-152-9|editor=Palmer, D.|location=London|page=291}}</ref> Dental microwear of ''Dendropithecus'' suggests that it was a generalist [[frugivore]] that had the ability to fall back on [[Folivore|folivory]] if necessary.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shearer |first=Brian M. |last2=Ungar |first2=Peter S. |last3=McNulty |first3=Kieran P. |last4=Harcourt-Smith |first4=William E.H. |last5=Dunsworth |first5=Holly M. |last6=Teaford |first6=Mark F. |date=January 2015 |title=Dental microwear profilometry of African non-cercopithecoid catarrhines of the Early Miocene |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047248414002036 |journal=[[Journal of Human Evolution]] |language=en |volume=78 |pages=33–43 |doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2014.08.011 |access-date=3 December 2024 |via=Elsevier Science Direct|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
==Species==
''Dendropithecus macinnesi'' was originally described as a new species of ''[[Limnopithecus]]'', ''L. macinnesi'', in 1950, before it was recognized as a distinct genus in 1977.<ref name=":0" /> ''D. ugandensis'', known primarily from material from Napak, Uganda, is morphologically similar to ''D. macinnesi'', but is 15-20% smaller than the type species. <ref>Pickford, M., Musalizi, S., Senut, B., Gommery, D., & Musiime, E., 2010 – Small Apes
from the Early Miocene of Napak, Uganda. Geo-Pal Uganda, 3: 1-111.</ref> An additional species, ''D. orientalis'', was described in 1990 from middle Miocene deposits in northern Thailand, but was transferred to the [[Pliopithecoidea|pliopithecid]] genus ''[[Dionysopithecus]]'' in 1999.<ref>Begun, D.R. (2002). «The Pliopithecoidea». En Hartwig, W. C. ''The Primate Fossil Record''. Cambridge University Press. pp. 222-240. {{ISBN|0521663156}}.</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Haplorhini|Ho.}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q2170546}}

[[Category:Dendropithecidae]]
[[Category:Miocene primates of Africa]]
[[Category:Fossil taxa described in 1977]]
[[Category:Prehistoric primate genera]]

Dendropithecus - Revision history

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