1096-8644/asset/olbannerleft.gif?v=1&s=33f8ec505be287504f05fadcc3bcee886f62295e)
1096-8644/asset/olbannerright.gif?v=1&s=4305dbacc7e375e9300998894487b997b557e791)
Research Article
New fossils of the oldest North American euprimate Teilhardina brandti (Omomyidae) from the paleocene–eocene thermal maximum
Article first published online: 12 AUG 2011
DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.21579
Copyright © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Additional Information
How to Cite
Rose, K. D., Chester, S. G.B., Dunn, R. H., Boyer, D. M. and Bloch, J. I. (2011), New fossils of the oldest North American euprimate Teilhardina brandti (Omomyidae) from the paleocene–eocene thermal maximum. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol., 146: 281–305. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.21579
Publication History
- Issue published online: 12 SEP 2011
- Article first published online: 12 AUG 2011
- Manuscript Accepted: 5 MAY 2011
- Manuscript Received: 10 DEC 2010
Funded by
- US National Science Foundation. Grant Numbers: NSF-EAR-0616376, NSF-EAR-0640076, NSF-EAR-0719941, NSF-EAR-0739718
- Yale University Department of Anthropology Williams Fund
- Abstract
- Article
- References
- Cited By
Keywords:
- Omomyidae;
- Primates;
- Eocene;
- PETM
Abstract
More than 25 new specimens of Teilhardina brandti, one of the oldest known euprimates, are reported from earliest Eocene strata of the southern Bighorn Basin, Wyoming. The new fossils include the first upper dentitions, a dentary showing the lower dental formula for the first time, and the first postcrania ascribed to T. brandti (tarsals and terminal phalanges). The elongated navicular and long talar neck suggest that T. brandti was an active arboreal quadruped, and the terminal phalanges constitute the oldest evidence for nails in Euprimates. Phylogenetic analysis incorporating the new data indicates that T. brandti is more derived than T. belgica but less so than T. americana. The hypothesis that Teilhardina originated in Asia (T. asiatica) and dispersed westward to Europe (T. belgica) and then to North America (T. brandti and T. magnoliana) during the earliest Eocene Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum is most consistent with available evidence, including the relative age of fossil samples and their stage of evolution. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2011. © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.