Adapidae

Adapidae
Temporal range: Early - Late Eocene
Adapis magnus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Suborder: Strepsirrhini
Superfamily: †Adapoidea
Family: †Adapidae
Trouessart, 1879
Subfamilies

Adapidae is a family of extinct primates that primarily radiated during the Eocene epoch.

Adapid systematics and evolutionary relationships are controversial, but there is fairly good evidence from the postcranial skeleton (everything but the skull, or cranium) that adapids were stem strepsirrhines, members of the group including the living lemurs, lorises, and bushbabies. In particular, the anatomy of the adapid wrist and ankle, such as the position of the groove for the flexor fibularis tendon on the talus bone and the presence of a sloping talo-fibular facet, show derived similarities with those of living strepsirrhines.[citation needed]

However, adapids lacked many of the anatomical specializations characteristic of living strepsirrhines, such as a toothcomb, a toilet-claw on the second pedal digit, and a reduction in the size of the promontory branch of the internal carotid artery.[citation needed]

There are two major branches of adapids, the subfamilies Adapinae and Caenopithecinae. Caenopithecines are sometimes assigned to their own family, Caenopithecidae.

References

  1. 1 2 Fleagle, John G. (2013). Primate adaptation and evolution. Internet Archive. San Diego, CA : Elsevier/AP. ISBN 978-0-12-378632-6.
  2. ↑ J.G., Fleagle (2000). "The century of the past: One hundred years in the study of primate evolution". Evolutionary Anthropology. 9: 87–100. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1520-6505(2000)9:2<87::AID-EVAN3>3.0.CO;2-N.
  3. ↑ Gingerich, P.D.; Martin, R.D. (November 1981). "Cranial morphology and adaptations in eocene adapidae II: The Cambridge skull of Adapis parisiensis". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 56 (3): 235–257. doi:10.1002/ajpa.1330560304. hdl:2027.42/37607.
  4. ↑ Marivaux, L.; Chaimanee, Y.; et al. (January 2006). "New strepsirrhine primate from the late Eocene of Peninsular Thailand (Krabi Basin)". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 130 (4): 425–434. doi:10.1002/ajpa.20376.
  5. ↑ Rose, K.D.; Walker, A.; Jacobs, L.L. (February 1981). "Function of the mandibular tooth comb in living and extinct mammals". Nature. 289: 583–585. doi:10.1038/289583a0.