Theropithecus

Theropithecus is a genus of primates in the family Cercopithecidae. It contains a single living species, the gelada, native to the Ethiopian Highlands.

Theropithecus

Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
geladaPBDB
Sits inside
PapioninaPBDB
Diet
frugivore, folivorePBDB, for Cercopithecidae
Life habit
arborealPBDB, for Cercopithecidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 2.8 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3.6 Mya to 774 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Miocene — about 0 of 185 occurrencesPliocene — about 30 of 185 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 155 of 185 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 185 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 10 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 27 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 27 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 27 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 22 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 6 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 6 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 6 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 6 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 6 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 4 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.6 Mya774 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

185 occurrences of Theropithecus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

185 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

18 formations

Shungura — 5.09°N, 36.02°EShungura — 5.02°N, 36.04°EShungura — 5.09°N, 36.06°EKoobi Fora — 3.98°N, 36.32°EKoobi Fora — 3.86°N, 36.26°EKoobi Fora — 4.07°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 3.77°N, 36.39°EKoobi Fora — 4.26°N, 36.28°EKoobi Fora — 4.24°N, 36.26°EKoobi Fora — 4.29°N, 36.23°EKoobi Fora — 3.90°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 3.87°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 3.92°N, 36.45°EKoobi Fora — 4.18°N, 36.42°ENachukui — 4.25°N, 35.79°ENachukui — 3.87°N, 35.72°ENachukui — 4.11°N, 35.73°ENachukui — 4.15°N, 35.74°ENachukui — 4.17°N, 35.77°ENachukui — 4.05°N, 35.73°ENachukui — 3.87°N, 35.76°ENachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°EOlorgesailie — 1.58°S, 36.43°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 35.37°EOlduvai — 2.99°S, 35.33°ESagantole — 10.48°N, 40.60°ESagantole — 10.62°N, 40.58°EWehaietu — 10.90°N, 40.48°EWehaietu — 10.57°N, 40.58°EWehaietu — 10.63°N, 40.54°EHadar — 11.14°N, 40.58°ESwartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°EChemoigut — 0.65°N, 36.20°EChemeron — 0.67°N, 35.83°EChemeron — 0.75°N, 35.88°EMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°ELothagam 3 — 2.88°N, 36.07°EMatabaietu — 10.55°N, 40.58°EKapthurin — 0.50°N, 36.00°EChiwondo — 10.17°S, 34.00°ELusso Beds — 0.03°N, 29.62°EKanapoi — 2.37°N, 36.08°E

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The named rock units Theropithecus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 19 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Theropithecus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Theropithecus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

620 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 173 sites for Theropithecus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

63 references

Each of the 185 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 51 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Theropithecus

Credit
Charles J. Sharp
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Laser scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Theropithecus gelada · USNM:MAMM:USNM 354990

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itPapionina through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Geoffroy 1843