''Phileosimias'' ("''

Eosimias ''Eosimias'' is a genus of early primates, first discovered and identified in 1999 from fossils collected in the Shanghuang fissure-fillings of Liyang, the southern city of Jiangsu Province, China. It is a part of the family Eosimiidae, and in ...

'' ally") is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

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 huma ...

s with two species, ''P. kamli'' and ''P. bahuiorum'', that are believed to be amongst the early

simian The simians, anthropoids, or higher primates are an infraorder (Simiiformes ) of primates containing all animals traditionally called monkeys and apes. More precisely, they consist of the parvorders New World monkeys (Platyrrhini) and Catarrhi ...

s. Marivaux ''et al.'' announced in 2005 their discovery of fossils of two new species, ''Phileosimias kamali'' and ''Phileosimias brahuiorum'', found in the Bugti Hills of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. They concluded that ''Phileosimias'' are almost certainly early simians. However, they felt the fossil evidence (primarily dental specimens) was insufficient to categorise them as

Eosimiidae Eosimiidae is the possible family of extinct primates believed to be the earliest simians. Taxonomy When they were discovered the possibility that Eosimians were outside and ancestral to Simians was considered (Culotta 1992), but subsequent ...

(along with other early simians) or whether they were sufficiently different to be placed into a separate group. The shapes of their

molars The molars or molar teeth are large, flat teeth at the back of the mouth. They are more developed in mammals. They are used primarily to grind food during chewing. The name ''molar'' derives from Latin, ''molaris dens'', meaning "millstone to ...

and

premolars The premolars, also called premolar teeth, or bicuspids, are transitional teeth located between the canine and molar teeth. In humans, there are two premolars per quadrant in the permanent set of teeth, making eight premolars total in the mouth ...

differ from species already classified as Eosimidae.
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The two species are ''Phileosimias brahuiorum'' and ''Phileosimias kamali'', which is slightly larger, but both are estimated to have weighed about 250 grams. They were extant during the

Early Oligocene The Rupelian is, in the geologic timescale, the older of two ages or the lower of two stages of the Oligocene Epoch/Series. It spans the time between . It is preceded by the Priabonian Stage (part of the Eocene) and is followed by the Chatti ...

epoch In chronology and periodization, an epoch or reference epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular calendar era. The "epoch" serves as a reference point from which time is measured. The moment of epoch is usually decided by ...

Tuttle Tuttle may refer to: Places Canada * Tuttle, Alberta United States * Tuttle, Arkansas * Tuttle, California * Tuttle, Colorado * Tuttle, Oklahoma * Tuttle, North Dakota Other uses * "Tuttle" (''M*A*S*H''), a 1973 episode from the television ser ...

, Russell H. (17-Feb-2014). ''Apes and Human Evolution'', Harvard. .

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q56291582 Prehistoric primate genera Eocene mammals of Asia