Afradapis
Afradapis is a genus of adapiform primate that lived during the Late Eocene. The only known species, Afradapis longicristatus, was discovered in the Birket Qarun Formation in northern Egypt in 2009. While its geographic distribution is confined to Afro-Arabia, Afradapis belongs to the predominantly European adapiform family Caenopithecidae. This taxonomic placement is supported by recent phylogenetic analyses that recover a close evolutionary relationship between Afradapis and adapiforms, including Darwinius. While adapiforms have been noted for their strepsirrhine-like morphology, no adapiform fossil possesses the unique anatomical traits (i.e., synapomorphies) to establish an ancestor-descent relationship between caenopithecids and living strepsirrhines (i.e., lemurs, lorises, and galagos). It ate leaves and moved around slowly like lorises.
Afradapis Temporal range: Priabonian | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Primates |
Suborder: | Strepsirrhini |
Family: | †Adapidae |
Genus: | †Afradapis Seiffert et al., 2009 |
Species: | †A. longicristatus |
Binomial name | |
†Afradapis longicristatus Seiffert et al., 2009 | |