Smilodectes

Smilodectes
Temporal range: Early-Mid Eocene (Wasatchian-Bridgerian)
~50.3–46.2 Ma
Smilodectes skeleton at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Suborder: Strepsirrhini
Family: Notharctidae
Subfamily: Notharctinae
Genus: Smilodectes
Wortman, 1903
Species
  • S. gingerichi Beard, 1988
  • S. gracilis Marsh, 1871
  • S. mcgrewi Gingerich, 1979

Smilodectes is a genus of adapiform primate that lived in North America during the middle Eocene.[1] It possesses a post-orbital bar and grasping thumbs and toes. Smilodectes has a small cranium size and the foramen magnum was located at the back of the skull, on the occipital bone.

  1. ^ Gebo 2002, p. 26.