How can I derive from an existing Operator in Python?

Question

When creating a new Blender Operator, you'll derive the class from bpy.types.Operator, like this:

import bpy

class MyShinyOp(bpy.types.Operator):
    bl_idname = 'object.my_shiny_operator'
    bl_label = "Operator"

   # ... and so on and so forth

My current understanding is that most operators should derive from bpy.types.Operator just like above. After registration, I should see this operator as

bpy.types.OBJECT_OT_my_shiny_operator

But what if I want to extend an already existing one, like

bpy.types.MESH_OT_primitive_monkey_add

I cannot derive from it, as it isn't a class any more, it is a registered Operator - a class instance. So this code will fail:

class MyShinyOp(bpy.types.MESH_OT_primitive_monkey_add)

Is there a way to get a reference to the class itself? Is it around somewhere just like user written classes? Or is this somehow wrapped C++ stuff? Is it possible to derive from existing Operators at all?