Plesiadapis

Plesiadapis
Temporal range: Late Paleocene-Early Eocene[1]
Reconstructed skeleton of P. cookei at the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Plesiadapiformes
Family: Plesiadapidae
Genus: Plesiadapis
Gervais, 1877
Type species
Plesiadapis tricuspidens

Plesiadapis is one of the oldest known primate-like mammal genera which existed about 58–55 million years ago in North America and Europe.[2][3] Plesiadapis means "near-Adapis", which is a reference to the adapiform primate of the Eocene period, Adapis. Plesiadapis tricuspidens, the type specimen, is named after the three cusps present on its upper incisors.

  1. ^ McKenna, M. C & S. K. Bell (1997). Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-11012-X.
  2. ^ Gingerich, P.D. (1976). "Cranial anatomy and evolution of early Tertiary Plesiadapidae (Mammalia, Primates)". University of Michigan Papers on Paleontology. 15: 1–141. hdl:2027.42/48615.
  3. ^ Rose, K.D. (1981). "The Clarkforkian Land-Mammal Age and mammalian faunal composition across the Paleocene-Eocene boundary". University of Michigan Papers on Paleontology. 26: 1–197. hdl:2027.42/48626.