The large sized cercopithecoid from Pirro Nord and the importance of Theropithecus in the Early Pleistocene of Europe: faunal marker for hominins dispersal outside Africa.

In 2004 Rook and co-authors described the cervical vertebrae of a large primate from the Early Pleistocene record of Pirro Nord (Apulia, Italy). These specimens have been attributed to a large cercopithecoid on the basis of the overall morphology. According the European biochronological framework the authors proposed attribution of these fossils to the genus Theropithecus.The Rook et al. (2004) paper has been criticized by Patel et al. (2007) who questioned the relevance of the fossil primate cervical vertebrae for taxonomic identification. We offer here our view on the morphological evidence and we discuss the Early Pleistocene scenario of mammal faunas dispersal from Africa into Eurasia