A team led by researchers from Duke University and the National University of Piura discovered a fossilized tooth in Peru, South America. They discovered it in a riverbank in the Amazon rainforest.

The researchers have identified it is as belonging to a species of tiny monkey no heavier than a hamster!

Why is this discovery important? It helps researchers understand a 15-million-year gap in the fossil record for monkeys in South America (New World monkeys).

 

The team published their study online on 23rd July in the Journal of Human Evolution. They have named the monkey Parvimico materdei or “tiny monkey from the Mother of God River.”

• The tooth is just “double the size of the head of a pin”.
• The Institute of Paleontology at Peru’s National University of Piura will preserve the tooth.

 

How can they tell the size of the monkey from just one tooth?

• Palaeontologists (scientists who study fossils) can tell a lot about the monkey from its teeth, particularly molars.
• Looking at the tooth’s size and shape, the researchers can say what kind of food the animal ate. They can also tell what size its body must have been.

Richard Kay, who is part of the study said that only one monkey species alive today, the teacup-sized pygmy marmoset, is smaller, “but barely”.

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