Pronycticebus

Pronycticebus
Temporal range: Middle Late Eocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Suborder: Strepsirrhini
Family: Notharctidae
Subfamily: Cercamoniinae
Genus: Pronycticebus
G. Grandidier, 1904
Type species
Pronycticebus gaudryi
G. Grandidier, 1904
Species
  • P. gaudryi
  • P. neglectus

Pronycticebus was a genus of adapiformes primates that lived during the middle to middle late Eocene. It is represented by two species, Pronycticebus gaudryi and Pronycticebus neglectus,[1] of which an almost complete specimen was found in Germany.[2]

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 in Europe.[2]

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.[3]

References

  1. Gebo 2002, pp. 28–29.
  2. 1 2 Fleagle 1998, p. 362.
  3. Fleagle 1998, pp. 362–363.

Literature cited

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