Dr Oriol Monclús-Gonzalo
Dr Oriol Monclús-Gonzalo is a palaeoprimatologist interested in how data from extant primates (e.g., morphological, behavioural) can be employed to make palaeobiological inferences about extinct species. To achieve this, he employs an interdisciplinary framework that combines functional morphology, biomechanics, geometric morphometrics, and phylogenetic comparative methods. His work is particularly focused on postcranial morphology, due to its central role in posture and locomotion in primates. Dr Monclús-Gonzalo is especially interested in the origin and early diversification of primates during the Paleogene, as well as in the evolutionary trajectories of fossil apes (non-human hominoids) throughout the Miocene and the emergence and evolution of bipedalism in our lineage.
Currently, Dr Monclús-Gonzalo is a Research Associate in Human Evolutionary Anatomy at the University of Cambridge, based at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, where he is part of the ERC Starting Grant project STEPS (https://walkinginthepast.co.uk).
Select publications
- Marigó, J., Monclús-Gonzalo, O., Femenias-Gual, J., Minwer-Barakat, R., 2026. The earliest primates from the Iberian Peninsula: 60 years of research. J. Mamm. Evol. 33, 19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-026-09803-9
- Àrias-Martorell, J., Raventós-Izard, G., Monclús-Gonzalo, O., Urciuoli, A., Gamarra, J., Nakatsukasa, M., Moyà-Solà, S., Alba, D.M., 2026. Ape-like locomotor adaptations in the radius of the stem catarrhine Pliobates shed light on hominoid evolution. iScience 114622. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2025.114622
- Monclús-Gonzalo, O., Alba, D.M., Fabre, A.-C., Marigo, J. 2025. Reconstruction of the locomotor repertoire of early primates in the light of astragalar and calcaneal shape. J. Hum. Evol. 206, 103730. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103730
- Monclús-Gonzalo, O., Pal, S., Püschel, T.A., Urciuoli, A., Vinuesa, V., Robles, J.M., Almécija, S., Alba, D.M., 2025. A dryopithecine talus from Abocador de Can Mata (Vallès-Penedès Basin, NE Iberian Peninsula): Morphometric affinities and evolutionary implications for hominoid locomotion. Am. J. Biol. Anthropol. 186, e70043. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.70043
- Raventós-Izard, G., Monclús-Gonzalo, O., Moyà-Solà, S., Alba, D.M., Àrias-Martorell, J., 2025. Ulnar morphology of Pliobates cataloniae (Pliopithecoidea: Crouzeliidae): Insights into catarrhine locomotor diversity and forelimb evolution. J. Hum. Evol. 202, 103663. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103663
- Monclús-Gonzalo, O., Alba, D.M., Duhamel, A., Fabre, A.C., Marigó, J., 2023. Early euprimates already had a diverse locomotor repertoire: Evidence from ankle bone morphology. J. Hum. Evol. 181, 103395. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103395
Further links
https://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/staff/dr-oriol-monclus-gonzalo
https://xn--oriol-moncls-gonzalo-sdc.weebly.com/
