In July 2009, Walter Pickel found a A. bernensis skull while diving in underwater caves.

The skull, long bones and ribs were recovered by Walter Pickel and Curt Bowen in October 2009 under the supervision of the Dominican Republic and Alfred L. Rosenberger from Brooklyn College.

The discovery supported the MacPhee et al. hypothesis of a monophyletic origin of the Antilles monkeys.

[5] This 2009 discovery of the skull suggested that these primates were diurnal, due to their relatively smaller ocular orbits.

Though previously, hypotheses regarding smaller relative brain size than normal and sexual dimorphism had been posited, these new specimens evidence neither of these claims.