Caipora (monkey)

Caipora; Temporal range: Late Pleistocene; ~0.010 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Primates
Suborder:	Haplorhini
Infraorder:	Simiiformes
Family:	Atelidae
Genus:	†Caipora; Cartelle & Hartwig 1996
Species
	C. bambuiorum;

Caipora is an extinct genus of large New World monkey that lived during the Pleistocene. It contains a single species, Caipora bambuiorum. Fossils have been found only in Brazil's Toca da Boa Vista cave, alongside the larger Protopithecus. The presence of these two large arboreal monkeys in Bahia suggests that the region may have supported a dense forest during the Late Pleistocene.[1][2]

Taxonomy

Caipora bambuiorum is known from an almost complete skeleton of a late-stage subadult individual discovered in the Toca da Boa Vista cave in 1992, by the spelaeological team Grupo Bambui de Pesquisas Espeleologicas. Its generic name is derived from caipora, a figure in Brazilian folklore, while the specific name was given in honour of the Grupo Bambui.[1]

Description

Caipora was a large-bodied monkey: despite the subadult age of the type specimen, its postcranial skeleton is more robust than any living New World monkey, but not as robust as Protopithecus, and the individual is estimated to have weighed around 20.5 kilograms. Its upper limbs are very long, and the neurocranium is more rounded than is typical in New World monkeys.[1] Like the extant genera Ateles and Brachyteles, it may have been a specialised suspensory climber and clamberer.[3]

References

Cartelle, Castor; Hartwig, W. C. (1996). "A new extinct primate among the Pleistocene megafauna of Bahia, Brazil". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 93 (13): 6405–6409. doi:10.1073/pnas.93.13.6405. PMC 39035. PMID 8692827.
Eisenberg, John F.; Redford, Kent H. (1989). Mammals of the Neotropics, Volume 3: Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil. University of Chicago Press. p. 247. ISBN 9780226195421.
Kivell, Tracy L.; Lemelin, Pierre; Richmond, Brian G.; Schmidt, Daniel (2016). The Evolution of the Primate Hand: Anatomical, Developmental, Functional, and Paleontological Evidence. Springer. p. 458. ISBN 9781493936465.

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[Cartelle-1] Cartelle, Castor; Hartwig, W. C. (1996). "A new extinct primate among the Pleistocene megafauna of Bahia, Brazil". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 93 (13): 6405–6409. doi:10.1073/pnas.93.13.6405. PMC 39035. PMID 8692827.

[2] Eisenberg, John F.; Redford, Kent H. (1989). Mammals of the Neotropics, Volume 3: Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil. University of Chicago Press. p. 247. ISBN 9780226195421.

[3] Kivell, Tracy L.; Lemelin, Pierre; Richmond, Brian G.; Schmidt, Daniel (2016). The Evolution of the Primate Hand: Anatomical, Developmental, Functional, and Paleontological Evidence. Springer. p. 458. ISBN 9781493936465.