New postcranial remains of Victoriapithecus from the middle Miocene of Kenya

Abstract

Recent collections at the middle Miocene site of Maboko Island in Kenya have yielded a relatively large sample of isolated postcranial bones that can be assigned with some degree of confidence to the early cercopithecid. Victoriapithecus. This paper provides a detailed description of the postcranial morphology of Victoriapithecus, and offers some general conclusions concerning its inferred locomotor behavior and phylogenetic status. The range of metrical and morphological variation exhibited by the material does not exceed that seen in modern species of Old World monkeys. This findings is consistent with recent re-interpretations of the cranio-dental material that indicate that only a single species of Victoriapithecus may be represented at Maboko Island. Victoriapithecus appears to be a relatively small (with an estimated average body weight of 3·5–4·0 kg), agile and active quadrupedal monkey, adapted to moving effectively in both arboreal and terrestrial settings. In its overall morphology, and probably also in its inferred locomotor behavior. Victoriapithecus is most closely similar to modern-day semi-terrestrial Old World monkeys.