Karanisia

Karanisia
Temporal range: Late Middle Eocene Priabonian
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Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Suborder: Strepsirrhini
Family: Lorisidae
Genus: †Karanisia
Seiffert et al, 2003
Species

†K. arenula
†K. clarki

Karanisia is an extinct genus of lorisid primate and is represented by two species, K. clarki[1][2] and K. arenula.[3]

K. clarki was described in 2003 from isolated teeth and jaw fragments found in Late Middle Eocene (c. 40 million years ago) sediments of the Birket Qarun Formation in the Egyptian Faiyum.[4][5] The specimens indicate the presence of a toothcomb, making it the earliest fossil primate to indisputably bear this trait, which is unique to all living strepsirrhines (lemurs, lorises, and galagos) in extant primates. This fossil, along with recently discovered toothcomb-bearing Bugtilemur mathesoni (2001) of the Oligocene found in the Chitarwata Formation of Pakistan,[6] has added complications to the puzzle of lemur origins.[5]

In 2010 a second species, K. arenula, was described in the journal Nature from Late Middle Eocene rocks in Libya.[3]

References

  1. ^ "Karanisia". The Paleobiology Database. http://paleodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?action=checkTaxonInfo&taxon_no=90337. Retrieved 2009-07-08. 
  2. ^ "Karanisia clarki". ZipCodeZoo.com. http://zipcodezoo.com/Animals/K/Karanisia_clarki/. Retrieved 2009-07-08. 
  3. ^ a b Jaeger, Jean-Jacques; Beard, K.C.; Chaimanee, Y.; Salem, M.; Benammi, M.; Hlal, O.; Coster, P.; Bilal, A.A.; Duringer, P.; Schuster, M.; Valentin, X.; Marandat, B.; Marivaux, L.; Métais, E.; Hammuda, O. and Brunet, M. (2010). "Late middle Eocene epoch of Libya yields earliest known radiation of African anthropoids". Nature 467 (7319): 1095–1098. doi:10.1038/nature09425. PMID 20981098. 
  4. ^ Seiffert, E. R.; Simons, E. L.; and Attia, Y. (2003). "Fossil evidence for an ancient divergence of lorises and galagos". Nature 422 (6930): 421–424. doi:10.1038/nature01489. PMID 12660781. 
  5. ^ a b Gould, Lisa and Sauther, Michelle L., ed (2006). Lemurs: Ecology and Adaptation (Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects) (1 ed.). Springer. pp. 7–8. ISBN 038734585X. 
  6. ^ "Bugtilemur mathesoni". The Paleobiology Database. http://paleodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?action=checkTaxonInfo&taxon_no=131786. Retrieved 2009-07-08.