New fossil materials of the earliest new world monkey, Branisella boliviana, and the problem of platyrrhine origins

Branisella boliviana, from the Late Oligocene of Salla, Bolivia, is the old est fossil platyrrhine monkey discovered. To date, several fossil specimens of Branisella have been obtained, but most of them are fragmentary dentiti ons, so the animals craniodental morphology is still obscure. During the 19 96 field season a pair of upper and lower jaw fragments and another nearly complete mandible were recovered. These new fossil materials reveal the fol lowing morphological features in Branisella: 1) P-2 is much smaller than P- 3,P-4, whereas P-2 is relatively small but probably sexually dimorphic; 2) the zygomatic arch protrudes smoothly posterolaterally from the maxillary b one, as in extant Callicebus; 3) the mandibular arcade is nearly V-shaped a nd the symphysial angle, which is formed by the horizontal plane and the an terior face of mandibular symphysis, is about 40 degrees, i.e., it neither leans as far anteriorly as in callitrichines nor does it stand as verticall y as Cebus; 4) upper and lower molars wore down rapidly in life, suggesting a herbivorous diet and the possibility of terrestriality; and 5) dental er uptive sequence is the same as in extant Aotus. As a whole, the dentition of Branisella is very similar to that of Proteopi thecus from the Late Eocene of Fayum, Egypt, except in the lower canine mor phology, suggesting a close phyletic relationship between them. The origin and early diversification of platyrrhine monkeys might have occurred on the African continent before crossing the Atlantic Ocean. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.