Pronycticebus

Pronycticebus
Temporal range: Middle Late Eocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Mammalia
Order:Primates
Suborder:Strepsirrhini
Family:†Notharctidae
Subfamily:†Cercamoniinae
Genus:†Pronycticebus
G. Grandidier, 1904
Type species
Pronycticebus gaudryi
G. Grandidier, 1904
Species
  • P. gaudryi
  • P. neglectus

Pronycticebus was a genus of adapiformes primates that lived during the middle to middle late Eocene. It is represented by two species, Pronycticebus gaudryi and Pronycticebus neglectus,[1] of which an almost complete specimen was found in Germany.[2]

Morphology

Pronycticebus neglectus possessed what appears to be a grooming claw on the second digit of each foot like modern strepsirhines (Fleagle, 1999) and had a dental formula of 2:1:4:3. Pronycticebus neglectus has a petrosal bulla and a postorbital bar. Pronycticebus neglectus may have been a nocturnal or a crepuscular species, which is suggested by a relatively large orbital size. Pronycticebus neglectus has a relatively large baculum for a species of its size, which had an average body mass of 825 grams.

Range

Pronycticebus neglectus lived in Europe.[2]

Locomotion

Based upon limb morphology, Pronycticebus neglectus moved by quadrupedalism, leaping, and climbing. This species is less of a leaper than the notharctines and used slow quadrupedalism less than the adapines.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Gebo 2002, pp. 28–29.
  2. 1 2 Fleagle 1998, p. 362.
  3. ↑ Fleagle 1998, pp. 362–363.
  • Conroy, G.C. 1990. Primate Evolution. W.W. Norton and Co.: New York.
  • Martin, R.D. 1990. Primate Origins and Evolution: A Phylogenetic Reconstruction. Princeton University Press: Princeton, New Jersey.
  • "Pronycticebus neglectus". members.tripod.com. Retrieved 2014-11-06.
  • http://www.aim.unizh.ch/StaffofInstitute/AffResearchers/uthal/Publications.html%5Bpermanent+dead+link%5D
  • Mikko's Phylogeny Archive

Literature cited

  • Gebo, D.L. (2002). "Adapiformes: Phylogeny and adaptation". In Hartwig, W.C. The Primate Fossil Record. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-08141-2. OCLC 47254191.
  • Fleagle, J.G. (1998). Primate Adaptation and Evolution. Academic Press. ISBN 978-0-080-49213-1. OCLC 40543995.
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