Homunculus_(genus)

<i>Homunculus</i> (genus)

Homunculus (genus)

Extinct genus of monkey

Homunculus is an extinct genus of New World monkey that lived in Patagonia during the Miocene. Two species are known: Homunculus patagonicus[2][3][4] and Homunculus vizcainoi, which are known from material found in the Santa Cruz Formation in the far south of Argentina.[1]

Quick Facts Scientific classification, Type species ...

H. patagonicus was a robustly built, quadrupedal primate, with body mass estimates varying between 1.4 and 5.9 kg (3.1 and 13.0 lb) based on different techniques.[5]

Some authors consider Killikaike blakei to be a junior synonym for H. patagonicus,[6][1] but others consider the species distinct.[7]

While some studies have regarded Homunculus as a crown group platyrhine and a member of the family Pitheciidae, other studies have regarded it as a stem-group platyrhine outside any modern group, which is supported by the morphology of its nasal turbinates, which are dissimilar to those of crown-group platyrhines.[8]

Homunculus is suggested to have been primarily frugivorous based on dental wear.[9]

References

  1. [1]
    Kay, R.F.; Perry, J.M.G. (2020). "New primates from the Río Santa Cruz and Río Bote (Early-Middle Miocene), Santa Cruz Province, Argentina". Publicacion Electronica de la Asociacion Paleontologica Argentina. 19 (2): 230–238. doi:10.5710/peapa.24.08.2019.289.
  2. [2]
    "Homunculus patagonicus". The Primata. 16 November 2001. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
  3. [3]
    Tejedor, Marcelo F.; Rosenberger, Alfred L. (2008). "A neotype for Homunculus patagonicus Ameghino, 1891, and a new interpretation of the taxon" (PDF). PaleoAnthropology (2008): 68–82. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
  4. [4]
    Jonathan M.G. Perry; Richard F. Kay; Sergio F. Vizcaíno; M. Susana Bargo (2014). "Oldest known cranium of a juvenile New World monkey (Early Miocene, Patagonia, Argentina): Implications for the taxonomy and the molar eruption pattern of early platyrrhines" (PDF). Journal of Human Evolution. 74: 67–81. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2014.03.009. hdl:10161/10782. PMID 25081638.
  5. [5]
    Perry, J.M.G.; Cookea, S.B.; Runestad Connour, J.A.; Burgess, M.L.; Ruff, C.B. (2018). "Articular scaling and body mass estimation in platyrrhines and catarrhines: Modern variation and application to fossil anthropoids". Journal of Human Evolution. 115 (13): 20–35. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.10.008. PMID 29150186. S2CID 3545389.
  6. [6]
    Perry, Jonathan M.G.; Kay, Richard F.; Vizcaíno, Sergio F.; Bargo, M. Susana (September 2014). "Oldest known cranium of a juvenile New World monkey (Early Miocene, Patagonia, Argentina): Implications for the taxonomy and the molar eruption pattern of early platyrrhines". Journal of Human Evolution. 74: 67–81. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2014.03.009. hdl:10161/10782. PMID 25081638.
  7. [7]
    Silvestro, Daniele; Tejedor, Marcelo F; Serrano-Serrano, Martha L; Loiseau, Oriane; Rossier, Victor; Rolland, Jonathan; Zizka, Alexander; Höhna, Sebastian; Antonelli, Alexandre; Salamin, Nicolas (2019-01-01). Savolainen, Vincent (ed.). "Early Arrival and Climatically-Linked Geographic Expansion of New World Monkeys from Tiny African Ancestors". Systematic Biology. 68 (1): 78–92. doi:10.1093/sysbio/syy046. ISSN 1063-5157. PMC 6292484. PMID 29931325.
  8. [8]
    Lundeen, Ingrid K.; Kay, Richard F. (June 2022). "Unique nasal turbinal morphology reveals Homunculus patagonicus functionally converged on modern platyrrhine olfactory sensitivity". Journal of Human Evolution. 167: 103184. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103184. PMID 35462071. S2CID 248328939.
  9. [9]
    Li, Peishu; Morse, Paul E.; Kay, Richard F. (July 2020). "Dental topographic change with macrowear and dietary inference in Homunculus patagonicus". Journal of Human Evolution. 144: 102786. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102786.
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