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Early
Cenozoic Primate Paleontology in China
The
fossil record demonstrates that during the Eocene Epoch (55–34
million years ago) a wide variety of primates occurred in Europe
and North America. Much less is known about the Eocene primates
that inhabited the vast Asian landmass, but because of its intermediate
geographic location and wide range of paleohabitats, it is safe
to conclude that Asian Eocene primates were at least as diverse
as those of Europe and North America. Furthermore, because undoubted
primates (or primate ancestors) have never been found in Paleocene
strata (65–55 million years ago) in Europe and North America,
it is possible that the entire order Primates originated in Asia.
Recent expeditions
by the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the Institute of Vertebrate
Paleontology & Paleoanthropology (Academia Sinica, Beijing, PRC)
have greatly advanced our knowledge of Paleocene and Eocene primate
diversity in China. For example, fossilized teeth and other remains
of a 45 million-year-old species of the living primate genus Tarsius
show that these animals have remained largely unchanged over this
long interval of time. We have also discovered the first indisputable
evidence that the Eocene primate faunas of Asia interacted with
those of Europe and North America (and possibly Africa) through
dispersal. Such distinctive primate clades as the loris-like Adapina
(also found in western Europe), the omomyid genus Macrotarsius
(also known in many western U.S. states), and the plesiadapoid family
Carpolestidae (also known from the western U.S. and Canada) have
been recovered from early Cenozoic fossil sites in China through
our field work.
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Figure
1: Lower dentition of Chronolestes simul from
the Wutu Formation, Shandong Province, China. Chronolestes
is a basal carpolestid plesiadapoid, demonstrating that
these animals dispersed across the Bering land bridge during
the early part of the Age of Mammals. |
Further exploration
of early Cenozoic basins in China will yield additional insight
regarding the biogeographic role of Asia in early primate evolution.
We hope to address the issues of primate origins, tarsier phylogeny
and biogeography, and the evolutionary history of other
Eocene primate
clades over the next several years. Our field and laboratory research
has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National
Geographic Society, the L. S. B. Leakey Foundation, and Carnegie
Museum of Natural History. |
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