Pronycticebus

Pronycticebus was a genus of adapiformes primates that lived during the middle to late Eocene. It is represented by two species, Pronycticebus gaudryi and Pronycticebus neglectus, of which an almost complete specimen was found in Hostage Valley, Germany.

Morphology

Pronycticebus neglectus possessed what appears to be a grooming claw on the second digit of each foot like modern strepsirhines (Fleagle, 1999) and had a dental formula of 2:1:4:3. Pronycticebus neglectus has a petrosal bulla and a postorbital bar. Pronycticebus neglectus may have been a nocturnal or a crepuscular species, which is suggested by a relatively large orbital size. Pronycticebus neglectus has a relatively large baculum for a species of its size, which had an average body mass of 825 grams.

Range

Pronycticebus neglectus lived on the continent of Europe, in the present country of Germany.

Locomotion

Based upon limb morphology, Pronycticebus neglectus moved by quadrupedalism, leaping, and climbing. This species is less of a leaper than the notharctines and used slow quadrupedalism less than the adapines (Fleagle, 1999).

References

• Conroy, G.C. 1990. Primate Evolution. W.W. Norton and Co.: New York.
• Fleagle, J.G. 1999. Primate Adaptation and Evolution. Academic Press: San Diego.
• Martin, R.D. 1990. Primate Origins and Evolution: A Phylogenetic Reconstruction. Princeton University Press: Princeton, New Jersey.
• http://members.tripod.com/cacajao/pronycticebus_neglectus.html
• http://www.aim.unizh.ch/StaffofInstitute/AffResearchers/uthal/Publications.html
• Mikko's Phylogeny Archive