Tremacebus

Tremacebus
Temporal range: Early Miocene (Colhuehuapian)
~21.0–17.5 Ma
↓
Skull
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Family: Atelidae
Genus: Tremacebus
Species: T. harringtoni
Binomial name
Tremacebus harringtoni
(Rusconi, 1933)

Tremacebus is an extinct genus of New World monkeys from the Early Miocene (Colhuehuapian in the SALMA classification). The type species is T. harringtoni.

Description

Tremacebus was about 1 metre (3.3 ft) in length, and would have resembled a modern night monkey, to which it may have been related.[1] However, its eyes appear to have been smaller than the modern species, CT scans of the cranium suggest a relatively small olfactory bulb and poor sense of smell, compared with night monkeys. These features suggest that it may not have been nocturnal.[2]

Only a few fossils have been found, including a skull from the Sarmiento Formation, Patagonia.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Palmer, D., ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 289. ISBN 1-84028-152-9.
  2. ↑ Kay, Richard (2002). "Tremacebus harringtoni, Fossil Primate". Digimorph. UT Austin. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
  3. ↑ Tremacebus at Fossilworks.org


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