''Afrotarsius'' is a

primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians ( monkeys and apes, the latter including ...

found in the Paleogene of Africa. Afrotarsiidae comparison & biogeography

The first species to be named, ''Afrotarsius chatrathi'', was named in 1985 on the basis of a single lower jaw from the Oligocene of

Fayum Faiyum ( ar, الفيوم ' , borrowed from cop, ̀Ⲫⲓⲟⲙ or Ⲫⲓⲱⲙ ' from egy, pꜣ ym "the Sea, Lake") is a city in Middle Egypt. Located southwest of Cairo, in the Faiyum Oasis, it is the capital of the modern Faiyum ...

, Egypt, and tentatively referred to the tarsier family (Tarsiidae). However, this relationship immediately proved controversial, and in 1987 the animal was placed in a separate family Afrotarsiidae related to simians. A tarsier-like tibiofibula was allocated to ''Afrotarsius'' in 1998, but the identity of this bone is controversial. In 2010, a second species of the genus, ''Afrotarsius libycus'', was named from the

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...

of Dur At-Talah, Libya, on the basis of isolated upper and lower teeth. Features of these teeth were interpreted as additional evidence for a relationship between ''Afrotarsius'' and anthropoids. A second afrotarsiid genus, '' Afrasia'', was named in 2012 from the Eocene Pondaung Formation of Myanmar. In the same paper, Afrotarsiidae was placed together with the Asian Eosimiidae in an infraorder Eosimiiformes, in the simians. However, some studies indicate that it should be placed in

Tarsiiformes Tarsiiformes are a group of primates that once ranged across Europe, northern Africa, Asia, and North America, but whose extant species are all found in the islands of Southeast Asia. Tarsiers (family Tarsiidae) are the only living members o ...

Evolutionary history

References

Literature cited

* * * * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q4690324 Eocene primates Eocene mammals of Africa Eocene genus first appearances Oligocene extinctions Oligocene primates Oligocene mammals of Africa Prehistoric primate genera Fossil taxa described in 1985