Fossil Discovered In China Is Oldest Known Primate
June 6, 2013
An international team of scientists have announced the discovery of a fossil that is the oldest known primate. Found in what is now central China’s Hubei Province, Archicebus achilles represents both a new genus and a new species in the primate family tree. The fossil’s genus name, Archicebus, translates to “ancient monkey.” The species name, achilles, relates to the ancient Greek warrior Achilles and refers to the primate’s ankle and heel bones.
The beginning of the Eocene Epoch marks a split in the primate family tree. A new fossil, Archicebus achilles, dates to soon after that time and may help scientists to better understand primate evolution. (World Book illustration)
Archicebus also represents a missing link in the primate fossil record. The mouse-sized primate fossil is approximately 55 million years old, from the Paleogene Period. That places Archicebus near the beginning of the Eocene Epoch (56 to 34 million years ago), at a critical juncture in primate evolution, when tarsiers and anthropoids (monkeys, apes, and humans) branched off in development.
The newly discovered tiny primate would have been an agile animal that lived in trees, feeding on insects. Its hands and feet indicate it would have leaped and grasped to move from branch to branch. Archicebus was around 2.7 inches (7 centimeters) in length and would have weighed less than 1 ounce. (Scientists estimated a weight of between 20 to 30 grams.) Archicebus and another early primate, the 4-inch- (10-centimeter-) long Eosimias centennicus, announced in 2000 and also found in China, puts Asia at the center of early primate evolution.
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