Cercopithecoides is an extinct genus of colobine monkey from Africa which lived during the latest Miocene to the Pleistocene period. There are several recognized species,[2] with the smallest close in size to some of the larger extant colobines, and males of the largest species weighed over 50 kilograms (110 lb).
Cercopithecoides Temporal range:
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A female C. kimeui skull | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Primates |
Suborder: | Haplorhini |
Infraorder: | Simiiformes |
Family: | Cercopithecidae |
Subfamily: | Colobinae |
Genus: | †Cercopithecoides Mollett, 1947[1] |
Species | |
The type species, Cercopithecoides williamsi, was named by O. D. Mollett in 1947, based on a partial cranium and mandible of a male individual from Makapansgat, South Africa.[5] It has since been found across many Pliocene and Pleistocene sites in South Africa, Angola, and Kenya.[6][7][8] The largest species, Cercopithecoides kimeui, was named by Meave Leakey in 1982, based on fossils found in Kenya and Tanzania.[6]