Proximal femoral anatomy of omomyiform primates

Marian Dagosto*, Peter Schmid

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

33 Scopus citations

Abstract

Compared to the adapid primates, the limb skeleton of omomyiforms is only poorly represented. With the discovery of some new material, the proximal femur is now known in several taxa, including representatives from both of the recognized families. We describe the femur of a very small North American omomyid from the Bridger formation (middle Eocene) and compare its anatomy with the omomyine Hemiacodon and the European microchoerids Nannopithex, Necrolemur and Microchoerus. Tarsius and omomyiforms share several features of the proximal femur which are correlated with frequent leaping in small primates, and which may be morphotypic for Tarsiiformes. Hemiacodon and the new small omomyid are quite similar to each other in that they both have a semicylindrical femoral head which, although more advanced than most primates, is not as derived as the fully cylindrical form exhibited by galagos and tarsiers. As with other areas of the postcranium, microchoerids are very distinct from North American omomyiforms. Microchoerus and Necrolemur exhibit features which are otherwise seen primarily in anthropoid primates such as a marked posterior projection of the lesser trochanter. In addition, Necrolemur shares a unique construction of the intertrochanteric crest with parapithecids. Despite these and other intriguing similarities of the postcranial skeleton, any relationship between microchoerids and early anthropoids is difficult to establish because of other marked differences between them.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)29-56
Number of pages28
JournalJournal of Human Evolution
Volume30
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1996

Funding

We would like to thank the staV of the museums at which we collected data for this project, especially the Anthropologisches Institut und Museum der Universität Zürich-Irchel; the American Museum of Natural History, Field Museum, the National Museum and the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Figure 10 was drawn by Patricia van Tassel. This research was partly supported by NSF BNS8719126 and Wenner-Gren 4931 to MD.

Keywords

  • Femur
  • Hemiacodon
  • Microchoeridae
  • Microchoerus
  • Necrolemur
  • Omomyidae
  • Omomyiformes
  • Tarsius

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
  • Anthropology

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