Chiromyoides | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Plesiadapiformes |
Family: | †Plesiadapidae |
Genus: | †Chiromyoides Stehlin, 1916 |
Type species | |
†Chiromyoides campanicus Stehlin, 1916
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Species | |
†Chiromyoides caesor Gingerich, 1973 |
Chiromyoides is a small plesiadapid primatomorph that is known for its unusually robust upper and lower incisors, deep dentary, and comparatively small cheek teeth. Species of Chiromyoides are known from the middle Tiffanian through late Clarkforkian North American Land Mammal Ages (NALMA) of western North America, and from late Paleocene deposits in the Paris Basin, France.
The unique dental morphology of Chiromyoides has led several authors to propose a specialized ecological role for the genus. Gingerich (1976) hypothesized that Chiromyoides was a specialist on seeds, while Szalay and Delson (1979) and Beard et al. (2020) suggested that it may have consumed wood-boring insects in a manner similar to the aye-aye.[1][2][3]