A Middle Palaeocene Primate
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TL;DR
The species to be described here is one of the most primitive known and therefore has a bearing on the origin of primates.
Abstract
PRIMATES are unknown before the middle Palaeocene. From deposits of this age (see here) in Montana, Wyoming, and Germany, nine genera and ten species are at present recognized1–5. I have elsewhere6 shown that Adapisoriculus, which is present at Walbeck1, is a tupaiid but that tupaiids are probably not phyletically close to primates. I regard the Picrodontidae as primates7. Bear Creek could be Torrejonian to Graybullian in age (unpublished work) but is not here included in the middle Palaeocene. The species to be described here is one of the most primitive known and therefore has a bearing on the origin of primates.