Dendropithecidae


The family Dendropithecidae is an extinct family of basal Hominoidea. They date from the Early Miocene, around 20 - 12 million years ago.
Fossils of the two Dendropithecus species, Dendropithecus macinnesi and Dendropithecus ugandensis, have been found in East Africa, including several partial skeletons of Dendropithecus macinnesi on Rusinga Island in Lake Victoria. Other species are Simiolus andrewsi, Simiolus cheptumoae, Simiolus enjiessi. Micropithecus clarki and Micropithecus leakeyorum may not be part Dendropithecidae, and may be sister to the crown Catarrhini. The later Nyanzapithecinae appear to be sister to Simiolus.

Description

The taxa included in Dendropithecidae, possess the following traits:
Upon creating this designation, Harrison noted that many of the characters that unite the clade may be primitive for catarrhines, allowing for the possibility that the dendropithecoids are a paraphyletic group.