| Duke University
Lemur Center Division of Fossil Primates |
| Szalay and Delson, Evolutionary History of the Primates, Academic Press, 1979, fig 128. |
| This fossil comes from the early Chadronian Provincial Age in West Texas, which means that it is about 33 million years old. The peculiar name is because it was discovered on the Rooney Ranch. There is only one specimen, a skull in which the incisors and canines have been broken off, but their roots or root sockets are preserved, showing that it has the same dental formula as old world anthropoids. Much of the metopic suture seems to be fused, but there are no postorbital plates. This is a primate which defies classification, as it seems to have no close allies. It has generally been placed with the omomyids taxonomically, but in a separate tribe. Those who have studied this species have largely been unable to decide how to place it in relation to other primates. The polycuspidation of the premolars and molars is reminiscent of that seen in Fayum Apidium, but is presumably due to convergence. |