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what is cercopithocoidea?explain it in the light of std x biology text book.



The earliest African cercopithecoids belong to the Victoriapithecidae, an extinct family from the early to middle Miocene of eastern Africa that exhibit a mosaic of basal catarrhine and modern Old World monkeylike morphological featuresthe Cercopithecinae (comprising the modern vervets, guenons, mangabeys, mandrills, geladas, common baboons and their fossil relatives) and Colobinae (comprising the green, red, and black-and-white colobus monkeys and their fossil relatives). Clearly differentiated members of the Cercopithecinae and Colobinae are present in the African fossil record, and from this time onward, Old World monkey lineages underwent increasing cladogenesis and dispersal. Dispersal of at least one major lineage each of colobine and cercopithecine monkeys into Eurasia in the late Miocene resulted in the seeding of that continent with the ancestors of Mesopithecus (and descendant colobines) and the earliest forms of macaques, respectively. Increased fragmentation of forests and greater habitat heterogeneity resulting from major mountain-building events and their climatic sequelae in Asia, Europe, and Africa created new ecological opportunities for the Cercopithecoidea throughout the Old World from the late Miocene onward.
Old World monkey - of Africa or Arabia or Asia; having nonprehensile tails and nostrils close together.


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