Theropithecus oswaldi

Theropithecus oswaldi is an extinct species of Theropithecus from the Early to Middle Pleistocene of Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, South Africa, Spain, Morocco, Algeria, and India. The species went extinct in South Africa around 1 million years ago. Having existed alongside hominins like Homo erectus, conflict with early humans likely played a role in their extinction, as a site has been found with many juveniles butchered.

Theropithecus oswaldi

Jonathan Chen · 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
Sits inside
TheropithecusPBDB
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 80 occurrencesPliocene — about 8 of 80 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 72 of 80 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 80 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 9 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 9 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 9 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 8 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 5 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 5 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 5 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 5 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 5 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.6 Mya774 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

80 occurrences of Theropithecus oswaldi on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

80 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

11 formations

Koobi Fora — 3.98°N, 36.32°EKoobi Fora — 3.86°N, 36.26°EKoobi Fora — 4.07°N, 36.37°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°EShungura — 5.11°N, 36.03°EShungura — 5.02°N, 36.04°EShungura — 5.09°N, 36.06°ENachukui — 4.25°N, 35.79°ENachukui — 4.15°N, 35.74°ENachukui — 4.17°N, 35.77°ENachukui — 4.05°N, 35.73°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 35.37°EOlduvai — 2.99°S, 35.33°ESwartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°EWehaietu — 10.90°N, 40.48°EWehaietu — 10.63°N, 40.54°ESagantole — 10.48°N, 40.60°ESagantole — 10.62°N, 40.58°EOlorgesailie — 1.57°S, 36.44°EMatabaietu — 10.55°N, 40.58°EKapthurin — 0.50°N, 36.00°EHadar — 11.13°N, 40.58°E

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The named rock units Theropithecus oswaldi has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 10 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Theropithecus oswaldi and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Theropithecus oswaldi and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

384 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 79 sites for Theropithecus oswaldi, 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

34 references

Each of the 80 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. 22 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 oswaldi

Credit
Jonathan Chen
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Theropithecus oswaldi · dnmnh:sk:561

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

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 itTheropithecus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Andrews 1916)