• Media type: E-Article
  • Title: The remains of a large cercopithecid from the Lower Pleistocene locality of Karnezeika (southern Greece)
  • Contributor: SIANIS, Panagiotis D.; ATHANASSIOU, Αthanassios; KOSTOPOULOS, Dimitris S.; ROUSSIAKIS, Socrates; KARGOPOULOS, Nikolaos; ILIOPOULOS, George
  • imprint: Cambridge University Press (CUP), 2023
  • Published in: Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
  • Language: English
  • DOI: 10.1017/s1755691022000226
  • ISSN: 1755-6910; 1755-6929
  • Keywords: General Earth and Planetary Sciences ; General Environmental Science
  • Origination:
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  • Description: <jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title><jats:p>The Lower Pleistocene Karnezeika locality, lies in the Peloponnese, southern Greece, and its fauna corresponds to the Middle Villafranchian biochronological unit (MN17). The recovered mammal assemblage includes, among others, a few remains of a large Cercopithecid. Herein, we describe this material, including an upper second molar, a partially preserved proximal radius and, possibly, an upper first incisor. The teeth show advanced stages of wear but retain their typical papionin characters, such as a strong lingual cleft and four bilophodont cusps in the molar. The general morphology and wear pattern of the teeth rules out the possibility that the remains belong to the genus <jats:italic>Theropithecus</jats:italic>, while the general size of the corresponding material excludes the possibility of a <jats:italic>Macaca</jats:italic> representative as well. On the contrary, the studied material better fits the size range of <jats:italic>Paradolichopithecus</jats:italic>. Even though this genus is likely represented in the Villafranchian of Europe by a single species, <jats:italic>Par. arvernensis</jats:italic>, the scarcity of the studied material imposes reservations and thus the Karnezeika papionin is referred at the moment to <jats:italic>cf. Paradolichopithecus</jats:italic> sp. As in the rest of Europe, the <jats:italic>Paradolichopithecus</jats:italic> record is rare in Greece, having been found in only two localities, Vatera and Dafnero. Despite its scarcity, the new material from Karnezeika indicates a wide distribution of this important taxon in the Greek peninsula.</jats:p>