Nuciruptor
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| Genus: | Nuciruptor Meldrum & Kay, 1950
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| Species: | N. rubricae
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Nuciruptor rubricae | |
Nuciruptor is an extinct genus of platirrhine primate that lived in South America, classified inside the family Pitheciidae.[1]
The only species of the genus is N. rubricae, which was described from a mandibular fragment found in the fossil site known as La Venta in Colombia in strata of the Middle Miocene, roughly 12,8 million years ago. Its dental morphology classifies it inside the subfamily Pitheciinae; it is related with the species Cebupithecia sarmientoi, found in the same place. The same dental morphology of Nuciruptor suggests that it fed on seeds like the living pithecines. It also had similar size to its living relatives, with an estimated weight of 2 kg.[1]
References
- ^ a b Meldrum, DJ; Kay, RF. (1997). "Nuciruptor rubricae, a new pitheciin seed predator from the Miocene of Colombia" (PDF). Am J Phys Anthropol. 102: 407–427. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1096-8644(199703)102:3<407::AID-AJPA8>3.0.CO;2-R. PMID 9098507. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 7, 2009.
