For an explanation of very similar terms, see Lemuriformes and Strepsirrhini.
Adapiformes
Temporal range: 56.0–11.1 Ma
PreꞒ
Ꞓ
O
S
D
C
P
T
J
K
Pg
N
Eocene – Late Miocene[1]
Notharctus tenebrosus
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Mammalia
Order:
Primates
Suborder:
Strepsirrhini
Infraorder:
†Adapiformes Hoffstetter, 1977
Superfamily:
†Adapoidea Trouessart, 1879
Families
†Notharctidae
†Sivaladapidae
†Asiadapinae[2][3]
†Adapidae
†Ekgmowechashalidae
Synonyms
Strepsirrhini
Adapiformes is a group of early primates. Adapiforms radiated throughout much of the northern continental mass (now Europe, Asia and North America), reaching as far south as northern Africa and tropical Asia. They existed from the Eocene to the Miocene epoch. Some adapiforms resembled living lemurs.
Adapiforms are known from the fossil record only, and it is unclear whether they form a monophyletic or paraphyletic group. When assumed to be a clade, they are usually grouped under the "wet-nosed" taxon Strepsirrhini, which would make them more closely related to the lemurs and less so to the "dry-nosed" Haplorhini taxon that includes monkeys and apes.[4]
In 2009, Franzen and colleagues placed the newly described genus Darwinius in the "Adapoidea group of early primates representative of early haplorhine diversification" so that, according to these authors, the adapiforms would not be within the Strepsirrhini lineage as hitherto assumed but qualify as a stem "missing link" between Strepsirrhini and Haplorrhini.[5] However, subsequent analysis on the Darwinius fossil by Erik Seiffert and colleagues rejects this "missing link" idea, classifying Darwinius and other adapiforms within the Strepsirrhini.[6]
Boyer et al. found that the crown Strepsirrhini likely emerged deep in the Adapiformes tree, possibly as sister of a group which include e.g. Aframonius and Notharctidae.[7] The Adapiformes are thus found not to be literally extinct (in the sense of having no living descendants), and becomes a junior synonym to the Strepsirrhini. Below is a simplified cladogram.
Primates
Haplorrhini
Strepsirrhini/
Donrussellia provincialis
grade of extinct adapiform taxa
Crown Strepsirrhini
Adapiformes
A 2018 study puts Donrussellia as sister to crown primates.[8]
^"PBDB". paleobiodb.org. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
^Dunn, Rachel H. (2016). "New euprimate postcrania from the early Eocene of Gujarat, India, and the strepsirrhine–haplorhine divergence". Journal of Human Evolution. 99: 25–51. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.06.006. PMID 27650579.
^Twenty-five little bones tell a puzzling story about early primate evolution
^Callum Ross, Richard F. Kay, Anthropoid origins: new visions, Springer, 2004, ISBN 978-0-306-48120-8, p. 100
^Franzen, Jens L.; et al. (2009). Hawks, John (ed.). "Complete Primate Skeleton from the Middle Eocene of Messel in Germany: Morphology and Paleobiology". PLoS ONE. 4 (5): e5723. Bibcode:2009PLoSO...4.5723F. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0005723. PMC 2683573. PMID 19492084.
^Ritter, M. (October 21, 2009). "Primate fossil called only a distant relative". Associated Press. Retrieved 2012-01-12.
^Boyer, Doug M.; Maiolino, Stephanie A.; Holroyd, Patricia A.; Morse, Paul E.; Bloch, Jonathan I. (2018-09-01). "Oldest evidence for grooming claws in euprimates". Journal of Human Evolution. 122: 1–22. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.03.010. ISSN 0047-2484. PMID 29935935.
^Holroyd, Patricia A.; Silcox, Mary T.; López-Torres, Sergi (2018-09-22). "New omomyoids (Euprimates, Mammalia) from the late Uintan of southern California, USA, and the question of the extinction of the Paromomyidae (Plesiadapiformes, Primates)". Palaeontologia Electronica. 21 (3): 1–28. doi:10.26879/756. ISSN 1094-8074.
emerged deep in the Adapiformes tree, possibly as sister of a group which include e.g. Aframonius and Notharctidae. The Adapiformes are thus found not...
classifications include either two infraorders (Adapiformes and Lemuriformes) or three infraorders (Adapiformes, Lemuriformes, Lorisiformes). A less common...
This is a list of fossil primates—extinct primates for which a fossil record exists. Primates are generally thought to have evolved from a small, unspecialized...
out that a case can be made for Amphipithecidae being placed either as adapiformes (i.e. early strepsirrhines) or as early anthropoids, noting in particular...
Plesiadapiformes ("Adapid-like" or "near Adapiformes") is an extinct basal pan-primates group, as sister to the rest of the pan-primates. The pan-primates...
classifications include either two infraorders (Adapiformes and Lemuriformes) or three infraorders (Adapiformes, Lemuriformes, Lorisiformes). A less common...
(Sioux: "little cat man") is an extinct genus of primate belonging to Adapiformes. With a weight of approximately 5 pounds (2.3 kg), around 1 foot (0.3 m)...
Notharctus tenebrosus belonged to an extinct primate group known as Adapiformes and fossils have been found in North America. Adapiform primates were...
London: Marshall Editions. p. 287. ISBN 1-84028-152-9. Gebo, D.L. (2002). "Adapiformes: Phylogeny and adaptation". In Hartwig, W.C. (ed.). The Primate Fossil...
Smilodectes gingerichi and Smilodectes mcgrewi. Smilodectes gracilis was an adapiformes primate from the early Eocene, some 55 million years ago. S. gracilis...
the appearance of the Adapiformes. A smaller group agrees with Franzen et al. that the higher primates descend from Adapiformes (Adapoidea). The view...
modern day lemurs and lorises, it is not currently known which branch of Adapiformes these living species are most closely related to. Notharctines became...
Miocene disruption. 14 Ma – 11 Ma Miocene, Serravallian age Last of Adapiformes. Final closure of Mesopotamian Seaway. Anoiapithecus, one of the earliest...
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