Origen y evolución de los Platyrrhini (Primates, Anthropoidea), con especial referencia a los registros de Argentina

Abstract

The are new light about the Platyrrhini origin provided by the fossil record of the Old World, which demonstrates that catarrhines and platyrrhines are certainly a monophyletic group. Although the exact provenance of the Platyrrhini is uncertain at this time, some characters of the latter are shared with primitive anthropoid primates from the Fayum Depression, in the Egyptian late Eocene-early Oligocene, and then we can accept an African origin for platyrrhines. Symplesiomorphies exhibited by these two groups imply that the New World monkeys could be recognised morphologically more conservative.

The evolutionary history of the Infraorder Platyrrhini has been a source of discussion, especially in recent years when the fossil record has increased dramatically. These advances contributed to a better understanding of their diversity and, on the other hand, the fossil diversity demonstrates that the living platyrrhines are a result of several evolutionary trends since the late Oligocene of South America. Fossil evidences come from several localities of South America and the Caribbean islands. The Patagonian fossil record includes specimens that show many particular characters not found among other fossil or living platyrrhines. Some living groups demonstrate close affinities with fossil relatives, such as those from La Venta, Colombia, and with a few specimens of Patagonia, while others are considered as part of a broad range of adaptive diversity whose extinct relatives are still unknown.