ANT101H5 Chapter Notes - Chapter 9: List Of Fossil Primates, Ape, Tibetan Plateau
Document Summary
The earliest primates evolved from early and still primitive placental mammals. They date to the paleocene (65-56 mya) and belong to a large group of primitive mammals called plesiadapiforms. These very early primates have been controversial for several decades, with opinions varying as to whether they are actually primates or members of a closely related but different group of mammals. Eocene primates (56-33 mya) : closer connections to living primates. From the succeeding eocene epoch (56-33 mya), a vast number of fossil primates have been discovered and now total 200 recognized species. These fossils display more clearly derived primate features. The must complete early primate fossil ever found was announced in 2009 and named darwinius. It comes from the eocene messel site in germany, dates to 47 mya (during the eocene) Eocene primates were 1) certainly primates, 2) widely distributed, and 3) mostly extinct by the end of the eocene.
