Know Your Primate: Antillothrix bernensis

Posted on January 6, 2008 by Timothy McDougald

Order: Primates
Family: Pitheciidae
Subfamily: Callicebinae
Tribe: Xenotrichini
Genus: Antillothrix
Species: Antillothrix bernensis
Antillothrix bernensis is known only from skeletal remains found at a few sites in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Radiocarbon dates range from 3,850-9,850 years before present.


Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any pictures. Skeletal analysis of A. bernensis (primarily of the teeth) indicate a close relationship with Paralouatta varonai. A. bernensis was a midsized primate, and weighed around 2-5 kg. Since the skeletal material for A. bernensis is scanty (consisting mainly of a lower jaw and a tibia) not much else is known about the species. One point of interest. The teeth of A. bernensis are similar to P. varonai and because of that paleoanthropologists were able to determine that the resemblances between P. varonai and Alouatta are due to convergence rather than a close phylogenetic relationship.

Filed under: Antillothrix, Callicebinae, Haplorrhini, Know Your Primate, Paleoanthropology, Pitheciidae, Platyrrhini, Primates, Xenotrichini | Tagged: |

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4 Responses

  1. Martin R, on January 6, 2008 at 12:19 pm said:

    Found in cultural context?
    How can the radiocarbon dates for two bones vary by 6000 BP years?

  2. afarensis, FCD, on January 6, 2008 at 12:35 pm said:

    The material comes from two different sites.

  3. Martin R, on January 13, 2008 at 5:26 am said:

    I hope they have a very good reason to believe that the mandible and the tibia from separate sites 6000 years apart belong to the same species.

  4. afarensis, FCD, on January 13, 2008 at 9:22 am said:

    Yes, they do. They have also found some teeth, which I seem to have forgotten to mention.

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