Fossil colobines are found in Africa, Asia, and Europe and as far back as over 12 million years ago. They are known from paleontological sites that extend well beyond their current range to northern Europe and Asia. In the late Miocene (10 – 5 Ma) they are quite rare but show a pattern of steadily increasing diversity. By Pliocene times they are considerably more diverse than today in terms of number of genera. They also span a greater range of body sizes extending from some similar to extant colobines up to at least three lineages that probably exceeded 40 Kg. Dental morphology, microwear analysis, and stable isotopes of carbon and oxygen further suggest that they had a range of diets, many likely different than extant colobines. Postcranial morphology suggests a wider range of locomotor modes as well. Finally, many seemed to have occupied more open, seasonal, and varied habitats than extant forms.