Primates from the Baynunah Formation

Fossil primatesPrimate of the Baynunah Formation are represented by only two cercopithecoidCercopithecoid specimens: AUH 35, a male lower canine of an indeterminate cercopithecid from site JDH-3, and AUH 1321, a lower molar of a guenonGuenon (see also Cercopithecini) from site SHUShuwaihat (SHU) 2–2. Although rare, these cercopithecoidCercopithecoid primatesPrimate are significant in terms of their age and biogeographic implications. AUH 1321 is the earliest known guenonGuenon (see also Cercopithecini) in the fossil record, and at ~8–6.5 Ma, it is also one of the earliest cercopithecines known. The age and geographic position of both specimens in the Arabian Peninsula supports late Miocene Eurasian dispersal scenarios for cercopithecoidCercopithecoid primatesPrimate out of Africa and through Arabia before the Messinian Crisis. Whether or not this dispersal included both cercopithecines (macaques)Macaque and colobinesColobinae, colobine is unclear, and it remains possible that both groups also dispersed across the MediterraneanMediterranean Basin or Straits of GibraltarGibraltar during the Messinian as well. Among the potential Arabian dispersal routes, there is perhaps some support for the southern path over the Straits of Bab el MandebBab el Mandeb based on the presence of ~8–5.5 Ma cercopithecine and colobineColobinae, colobine fossils in the East African fossil record, geographically close to the Horn of Africa.