A new pliopithecoid genus from the early Miocene of Uganda

A partial face and mandible from the early Miocene site of Napak IX in Uganda are described here as a new genus and species of catarrhine primate, Lomorupithecus harrisoni gen. et sp. nov. The face is among the most complete specimens known for a Miocene small-bodied catarrhine. Several aspects of its anatomy indicate that the new species is a stem catarrhine, and as such, it may provide valuable information pertaining to the primitive catarrhine cranial morphotype. Lomorupithecus is most similar in its facial anatomy to members of the Pliopithecoidea, and these similarities could be interpreted in three ways. They could be symplesiomorphies, which would support the traditional view of the primitive catarrhine cranial morphotype; they could be synapomorphies reflecting a phylogenetic position of Lomorupithecus within Pliopithecoidea; or they could represent convergence. Phylogenetic analysis of Lomorupithecus along with 35 other primates indicates that it is a pliopithecoid. As such, it would be the oldest and only Afro-Arabian member of this otherwise Eurasian clade.