Evolutionary Morphology of the Guenon Postcranium and Its Taxonomic Implications

Abstract

Guenons (Primates, Cercopithecini) are relatively smallbodied (Table 16.1) Old World monkeys endemic to Africa. They exhibit a variety of substrate preferences, spanning from arboreal to semiterrestrial to terrestrial (Table 16.2). The ancestral guenon was likely arboreal; indeed, the postcranial morphology of semiterrestrial guenons, including the basal Allenopithecus (Tosi et al., 2004, 2005), resembles that of their arboreal relatives (Gebo and Sargis, 1994). Morphological modifications attributable to terrestriality are only found in three guenon taxa (Gebo and Sargis, 1994): patas monkeys (Erythrocebus patas), the lhoesti group (Cercopithecus lhoesti, C. preussi, and C. solatus), and vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops; Manaster, 1979; Anapol and Gray, 2003; Anapol et al., 2005).