The Early Pliocene Sagantole Fm. in the Gona Project area, Afar State, Ethiopia, is noted for discoveries of the early hominin Ardipithecus ramidus. A large series of fossil cercopithecid primates dated to between 4.8 and 4.3 Ma has also been collected from these sediments. In this paper, we use qualitative analysis and standard dental and postcranial measures to systematically describe the craniodental remains and tentatively allocate postcrania to taxa where we are able to. We then use these data to compare these specimens to fossil assemblages from contemporary sites, interpret their paleobiology, and discuss implications for the paleoecology of the Gona Sagantole Fm. We recognize three cercopithecid species in the Gona Sagantole Fm. Pliopapio alemui makes up approximately two-thirds of the identifiable specimens; nearly all of the rest are allocated to Kuseracolobus aramisi, and a single molar indicates the presence of a second, somewhat larger but morphologically distinct papionin. Among the Early Pliocene cercopithecids from Gona are also a number of postcranial elements. None of the postcranial remains are directly associated with any of the cranial material. Nonetheless, some of the distal humeri and proximal femora can be tentatively allocated to either Pl. alemui or K. aramisi based on a combination of size, as the latter is approximately 50% larger than the former, and morphology. If these assignments are correct, they suggest K. aramisi was primarily arboreal and similar to most extant colobines, whereas Pl. alemui was more mixed in its substrate use, being more terrestrially adapted than K. aramisi, but less so than extant Papio or Theropithecus. Thus, we interpret the predominance of Pl. alemui over K. aramisi is consistent with a somewhat more open environment at Gona than at Aramis.

中文翻译：

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来自埃塞俄比亚戈纳早上新世 Sagantole 组的 Cercopithecidae 化石。

早上新世 Sagantole Fm。在埃塞俄比亚阿法尔州的戈纳项目区，以发现早期人类 Ardipithecus ramidus 而闻名。还从这些沉积物中收集了大量可追溯到 4.8 至 4.3 Ma 的化石灵长类动物。在本文中，我们使用定性分析和标准的牙科和颅后测量来系统地描述颅牙遗骸，并在我们能够做到的地方暂时将颅后骨分配到分类群。然后，我们使用这些数据将这些标本与来自当代遗址的化石组合进行比较，解释它们的古生物学，并讨论对 Gona Sagantole Fm 古生态学的影响。我们在 Gona Sagantole Fm 中识别出三个 cercopithecid 物种。Pliopapio alemui 约占可识别标本的三分之二；几乎所有其余的都分配给 Kuseracolobus aramisi，单个臼齿表明存在第二个稍大但形态不同的木瓜蛋白酶。在来自戈纳的上新世早期的尾蚴中也有一些颅后元素。没有任何颅后遗骸与任何颅骨材料直接相关。尽管如此，一些远端肱骨和近端股骨可以暂时分配给任何一个 Pl。alemui 或 K. aramisi 基于大小和形态的组合，后者比前者大约 50%。如果这些分配是正确的，他们表明 K. aramisi 主要是树栖的并且与大多数现存的 colobines 相似，而 Pl。alemui 在其底物使用方面更加混合，比 K. aramisi 更适应陆地，但不如现存的 Papio 或 Theropithecus。因此，我们解释了 Pl 的优势。K. aramisi 上的 alemui 与 Gona 比 Aramis 更开放的环境是一致的。