- suborder: Haplorrhini
- infraorder: Platyrrhini
- superfamily: Ceboidea
- family: Cebidae
- subfamily: Aotinae
This species is thought to be an ancestor of the extant members of the genus Aotus (Rosenberger, 1984; cited in Fleagle, 1988).
Tremacebus harringtoni had upper molars which were quadrate and had a broad lingual cingulum (Fleagle, 1988). The hypocone of this species were relatively large (Fleagle, 1988). On the lower molars there was a strong cristid obliqua of a broad talonid and a trigonid which was narrow and lacked distinct cusps (Fleagle, 1988). This species had a dental formula of 2:1:3:3 on the upper jaw (Conroy, 1990). This species had a snout which was short and broad (Fleagle, 1988). The orbits of this species are in between extant diurnal platyrrhines and extant members of the genus Aotus in size, and this suggests that perhaps this species was more crepuscular in behavior (Hershkovitz, 1974; cited in Fleagle, 1988). On the skull there were well defined temporal lines (Conroy, 1990). This species has an auditory bulla pattern of that found in extant platyrrhines (Hershkovitz, 1970; cited in Martin, 1990). This species had an average body mass of around 1.8 kilograms (Fleagle, 1988).
Tremacebus harringtoni lived on the continent of South America and was found in the country of Argentina (Fleagle, 1988). This species occurred from the late Oligocene to the early Miocene (Fleagle, 1988).
Based upon dental morphology this was most likely a herbivorous species (Conroy, 1990).
Conroy, G.C. 1990. Primate Evolution. W.W. Norton and Co.: New York.
Fleagle, J.G. 1988. Primate Adaptation and Evolution. Academic Press: New York.
Hershkovitz, P. 1970. Notes on Tertiary Platyrrhine Monkeys and Description of a New Genus from the Late Miocene of Colombia. Folia Primatol., Vol. 12, 1-37.
Hershkovitz, P. 1974. A New Genus of Late Oligocene Monkey (Cebidae, Platyrrhine) with Notes on Post Orbital Closure and Platyrrhine Evolution. Folia Primatol., Vol. 21, 1-35.
Rosenberger, A.L. 1984. Fossil New World Monkeys Dispute the Molecular Clock. Journal of Human Evolution, Vol. 13, 737-742.
Martin, R.D. 1990. Primate Origins and Evolution: A Phylogenetic Reconstruction. Princeton University Press: Princeton, New Jersey.
Last updated: November 15, 2001