Name:
Branisella (after paleontologist Leonardo Branisa); pronounced bran-ih-SELL-ah
Habitat:
Woodlands of South America
Historical Epoch:
Middle Oligocene (30-25 million years ago)
Size and Weight:
About a foot and a half long and a few pounds
Diet:
Fruits and seeds
Distinguishing Characteristics:
Small size; large eyes; prehensile tail
About Branisella:
Paleontologists speculate that "new world" monkeys--that is, primates indigenous to central and South America--somehow floated over from Africa, the hotbed of primate evolution, 40 million years ago, perhaps on thatches of tangled vegetation and driftwood. To date, Branisella is the oldest new world monkey yet identified, a tiny, sharp-toothed, tarsier-like primate that probably had a prehensile tail (an adaptation that somehow never evolved in primates from the old world, i.e., Africa and Eurasia). Today, the new world primates that count Branisella as a possible ancestor include marmosets, spider monkeys and howler monkeys.
