This review examined the hypothesis that a competition with the Cercopithecoidea accounts for the decline of the "Hominoidea" (properly speaking, non-cercopithecoid catarrhines on the present-day consensus of catarrhine taxonomy) from the beginning of the Miocene in Africa, originally put forward by P. Andrews (1981) [Species diversity and diet in monkeys and apes during the Miocene. In: Stringer C.B. (ed.), Aspects of Human Evolution. Taylor & Francis Ltd., London,. The updated African

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... ne fossil record revealed that there was neither an uprising of the diversity of the Cercopithecoidea nor a decline of noncercopithecoid catarrhines by the early Late Miocene. The radiation of the cercopithecids and the decline of non-cercopithecoids coincidently occurred during 10-7 Ma. Prior to 10 Ma, colobines (and probably guenons) invaded African forests and became (potential) competitors of the non-cercopithecoids as frugivorous primates that can consume unripe fruits. The r-strategist cercopithecids were certainly more adaptive than presumably K-selected large non-cercopithecoids under the fluctuation and deterioration of environment after 10 Ma. However, it cannot be concluded whether the cercopithecids eventually replaced the non-cercopithecoid cattarhines through a direct competition. Between 10-7 Ma, a transition from the C3 to C4 environment has progressed in East Africa. The climatic change could have negatively affected the diversity and population size of the noncercopithecoids. It might have also changed interspecific relations in primate communities. These possibilities can be evaluated only with a continuous and abundant fossil record of the cercopithecids (especially forestliving cercopithecines) and non-cercopithecoid catarrhines during this time period.