Hostname: page-component-5db58dd55d-htx7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-06-11T05:30:27.640Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The European Paromomyidae (Primates, Mammalia): taxonomy, phylogeny, and biogeographic implications

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2018

Sergi López-Torres
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, M1C 1A4, Canada 〈sergi.lopeztorres@mail.utoronto.ca〉 Current address: Department of Evolutionary Paleobiology, Roman Kozłowski Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, Warsaw 00-818, Poland 〈slopeztorres@twarda.pan.pl〉
Mary T. Silcox
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, M1C 1A4, Canada 〈msilcox@utsc.utoronto.ca〉

Abstract

Plesiadapiforms represent the first radiation of Primates, appearing near the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. Eleven families of plesiadapiforms are recognized, including the Paromomyidae. Four species of paromomyids from the early Eocene have been reported from Europe: Arcius fuscus Russell et al., 1967, Arcius lapparenti Russell et al., 1967, and Arcius rougieri Godinot, 1984 from France and Arcius zbyszewskii Estravís, 2000 from Portugal. Other Arcius specimens from the early Eocene are known from Masia de l’Hereuet (Spain), Abbey Wood (England), and Sotteville-sur-Mer (Normandy, France). A cladistic analysis of the European paromomyids has never previously been published. A total of 53 dental characters were analyzed for the four Arcius species and the specimens from Spain, England, and Normandy. The results of a parsimony analysis using TNT agree with previous conceptions of A. zbyszewskii as the most primitive member of the genus. Consistent with existing hypotheses, Arcius rougieri is positioned as the sister taxon of A. fuscus and A. lapparenti, and the results suggest that the fossil from Normandy is A. zbyszewskii. However, the English fossil pertains to a primitive lineage, rather than grouping with A. lapparenti as had been suggested; as such it is recognized here as a distinct species (Arcius hookeri new species). The Spanish fossils cluster together with the French species but do not show the previously proposed special relationship with A. lapparenti and are sufficiently distinct to be placed in a new species (Arcius ilerdensis). Arcius is recovered as monophyletic, which is consistent with a single migration event from North America to Europe around the earliest Eocene through the Greenland land bridge.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/f4aac438-82d2-4a25-887b-3e0c072d87f6

Information

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 2018, The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable