Bownomomys

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Bownomomys
Temporal range: 56–53  Ma
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Suborder: Haplorhini
Family: Omomyidae
Subfamily: Anaptomorphinae
Tribe: Anaptomorphini
Genus: Bownomomys
Morse et al., 2018
Type species
Bownomomys americanus
(Bown, 1976)
Species
  • Bownomomys americanus(Bown, 1976)
  • Bownomomys crassidens(Bown and Rose, 1987)

Bownomomys was an early marmoset-like primate that lived in North America during the Early Eocene epoch, about 56-50 million years ago. [1]

Taxonomy

Teilhardina americana and T. crassidens were originally named as species of Teilhardina , usually considered a member of Omomyidae. [2] [3] However, phylogenetic analysis by Ni et al. (2004) recovered Teilhardina as polyphyletic, with Teilhardina belgica and T. asiatica nested as the basalmost haplorrhines, and T. americana and T. crassidens being recovered as anaptomorphine omomyids (and thus more closely related to the tarsiers than to simians). Teilhardina crassidens was later referred to the genus Baataromomys by Ni et al. (2007). [4] [5] A paper by Morse et al. built upon the cladistic results of Ni et al. (2004) by recognizing T. americana and T. crassidens as belonging to a new genus, which they named Bownomomys. [6]

Related Research Articles

Strepsirrhini Suborder of primates which includes lemurs, galagos, pottos and lorises

Strepsirrhini or Strepsirhini is a suborder of primates that includes the lemuriform primates, which consist of the lemurs of Madagascar, galagos ("bushbabies") and pottos from Africa, and the lorises from India and southeast Asia. Collectively they are referred to as strepsirrhines. Also belonging to the suborder are the extinct adapiform primates which thrived during the Eocene in Europe, North America, and Asia, but disappeared from most of the Northern Hemisphere as the climate cooled. Adapiforms are sometimes referred to as being "lemur-like", although the diversity of both lemurs and adapiforms does not support this comparison.

Omomyidae Extinct family of primates

Omomyidae is a group of early primates that radiated during the Eocene epoch between about 55 to 34 million years ago (mya). Fossil omomyids are found in North America, Europe & Asia making it one of two groups of Eocene primates with a geographic distribution spanning holarctic continents, the other being the adapids. Early representatives of the Omomyidae and Adapidae appear suddenly at the beginning of the Eocene in North America, Europe, and Asia, and are the earliest known crown primates.

Tarsiiformes Group of primates

Tarsiiformes are a group of primates that once ranged across Europe, northern Africa, Asia, and North America, but whose extant species are all found in the islands of Southeast Asia. Tarsiers are the only living members of the infraorder, and also include the extinct Tarsius eocaenus from the Eocene and Tarsius thailandicus from the Miocene. Two extinct genera, Xanthorhysis and Afrotarsius, are considered to be close relatives of the living tarsiers and are generally classified within Tarsiiformes, with the former grouped within family Tarsiidae and the latter listed as incertae sedis (undefined). Omomyids are generally considered to be extinct relatives, or even ancestors, of the living tarsiers and are often classified within Tarsiiformes. Other fossil primates, which include Microchoeridae, Carpolestidae, and Eosimiidae, have been included in this classification, although the fossil evidence is debated. Eosimiidae has also been classified under the infraorder Simiiformes. Likewise, Carpolestidae is often classified within the order Plesiadapiformes, a very close, extinct relative of primates. These conflicting classifications lie at the heart of the debate over early primate evolution. Even the placement of Tarsiiformes within suborder Haplorhini is still debated.

Simian Infraorder of primates

The simians, anthropoids or higher primates are an infraorder of primates containing all animals traditionally called monkeys and apes. More precisely, they consist of the parvorders New World monkeys (Platyrrhini) and Catarrhini, the latter of which consists of the superfamilies Old World monkeys in the stricter sense (Cercopithecidae) and apes.

Adapiformes Extinct order of primates

Adapiformes is a group of early primates. Adapiforms radiated throughout much of the northern continental mass, reaching as far south as northern Africa and tropical Asia. They existed from the Eocene to the Miocene epoch. Some adapiforms resembled living lemurs.

Plesiadapiformes Extinct order of mammals

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Ekgmowechashala is an extinct genus of primate belonging to Adapiformes.

Anaptomorphinae Extinct subfamily of primates

Anaptomorphinae is a pre-historic group of primates known from Eocene fossils in North America and Europe and later periods of Paleocene Asia, and are a sub-family of omomyids. The anaptomorphines is a paraphyletic group consisting of the two tribes Trogolemurini and Anaptomorphini. Anaptomorphine radiation in Wyoming, one of the most detailed records of changes within populations and between species in the fossil record, has provided remarkable evidence of transitional fossils.

<i>Afrasia djijidae</i> Eocene fossil primate from Myanmar

Afrasia djijidae is a fossil primate that lived in Myanmar approximately 37 million years ago, during the late middle Eocene. The only species in the genus Afrasia, it was a small primate, estimated to weigh around 100 grams (3.5 oz). Despite the significant geographic distance between them, Afrasia is thought to be closely related to Afrotarsius, an enigmatic fossil found in Libya and Egypt that dates to 38–39 million years ago. If this relationship is correct, it suggests that early simians dispersed from Asia to Africa during the middle Eocene and would add further support to the hypothesis that the first simians evolved in Asia, not Africa. Neither Afrasia nor Afrotarsius, which together form the family Afrotarsiidae, is considered ancestral to living simians, but they are part of a side branch or stem group known as eosimiiforms. Because they did not give rise to the stem simians that are known from the same deposits in Africa, early Asian simians are thought to have dispersed from Asia to Africa more than once prior to the late middle Eocene. Such dispersals from Asia to Africa also were seen around the same time in other mammalian groups, including hystricognathous rodents and anthracotheres.

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Willwood Formation

The Willwood Formation is a sedimentary sequence deposited during the late Paleocene to early Eocene, or Clarkforkian, Wasatchian and Bridgerian in the NALMA classification.

<i>Archicebus</i> Genus of fossil primates that lived in the early Eocene forests (~55 million years ago

Archicebus is a genus of fossil primates that lived in the early Eocene forests of what is now Jingzhou in the Hubei Province in central China, discovered in 2003. The only known species, A. achilles, was a small primate, estimated to weigh approximately 20–30 grams (0.71–1.06 oz), and is the only known member of the family Archicebidae. When discovered, it was the oldest fossil haplorhine primate skeleton found, appearing to be most closely related to tarsiers and the fossil omomyids, although A. achilles is suggested to have been diurnal whereas tarsiers are nocturnal. Resembling tarsiers and simians, it was a haplorhine primate, and it also may have resembled the last common ancestor of all haplorhines as well as the last common ancestor of all primates. Its discovery further supports the hypothesis that primates originated in Asia, not in Africa.

Wasatch Formation

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Muangthanhinius is a genus of adapiform primate that lived in Asia during the late Eocene.

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<i>Ignacius</i> extinct genus of mammals

Ignacius is a genus of extinct mammal from the early Cenozoic era. This genus is present in the fossil record from around 62-33 Ma. The earliest known specimens of Ignacius come from the Torrejonian of the Fort Union Formation, Wyoming and the most recent known specimen of Ignacius was found in the Medicine Pole Hills of North Dakota. Ignacius is one of ten genera within the family Paromomyidae, the longest living family of any plesiadapiforms, persisting for around 30 Ma during the Paleocene and Eocene epochs. The analyses of postcranial fossils by paleontologists suggest that members of the family Paromomyidae, including the genus Ignacius, most likely possessed adaptations for arboreality.

Navajovius is an extinct genus of plesiadapiform that lived during the Paleocene epoch. Plesiadapiforms were small, arboreal mammals that are theorized to be either closely related to primates or dermopterans. Navajovius has only been documented from localities within North America. This genus was officially named in 1921 by Walter Granger and William Matthew and the type specimen is housed at the American Museum of Natural History.

References

  1. Smith, T.; Rose, K.D.; Gingerich, P.D. (2006). "Rapid Asia-Europe-North America geographic dispersal of earliest Eocene primate Teilhardina during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 103 (30): 11223–7. Bibcode:2006PNAS..10311223S. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0511296103 . PMC   1544069 . PMID   16847264.
  2. T. M. Bown. 1976. Affinities of Teilhardina (Primates, Omomyidae) with Description of a New Species from North America. Folia Primatologica 25
  3. T. M. Bown and K. D. Rose. 1987. Patterns of Dental Evolution in Early Eocene Anaptomorphine Primates (Omomyidae) from the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming. Paleontological Society Memoir 23:1-162
  4. Ni, X., Wang, Y., Hu, Y. & Li, C., 2004: A euprimate skull from the early Eocene of China. Nature: Vol. 427, #1, pp. 65-68
  5. X. Ni, K. C. Beard, J. Meng, Y. Wang, and D. L. Gebo. 2007. Discovery of the first early Cenozoic euprimate (Mammalia) from Inner Mongolia. American Museum Novitates 3571:1-11.
  6. Paul E. Morse; Stephen G.B. Chester; Doug M. Boyer; Thierry Smith; Richard Smith; Paul Gigase; Jonathan I. Bloch (2018). "New fossils, systematics, and biogeography of the oldest known crown primate Teilhardina from the earliest Eocene of Asia, Europe, and North America". Journal of Human Evolution. in press. doi : 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.08.005.