Purgatorius in the context of "List of fossil primates"

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⭐ Core Definition: Purgatorius

Purgatorius is a genus of seven extinct eutherian species typically believed to be the earliest example of a primate or protoprimate, a primatomorph precursor to the Plesiadapiformes, dating to as old as 66 million years ago. The first remains (P. unio and P. ceratops) were reported in 1965, from what is now eastern Montana's Tullock Formation (early Paleocene, Puercan), specifically at Purgatory Hill (hence the animal's name) in deposits believed to be about 63 million years old, and at Harbicht Hill in the lower Paleocene section of the Hell Creek Formation. Both locations are in McCone County, Montana.

They have also been found in the Ravenscrag Formation and widely discovered in the early Paleocene Bug Creek Group, along with leptictids. These deposits were once thought to be late Cretaceous, but it is now clear that they are Paleocene channels with time-averaged fossil assemblages. It is thought to have been rat-sized (6 in (15 cm) long and 1.3 ounces (about 37 grams)) and a diurnal insectivore, which burrowed through small holes in the ground. In life, it would have resembled a squirrel or a tree shrew (most likely the latter, given that tree shrews are one of the closest living relatives of primates, and Purgatorius is considered to be the progenitor to primates). The oldest remains of Purgatorius date back to ~65.921 mya, or between 105 thousand to 139 thousand years after the K-Pg boundary.

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👉 Purgatorius in the context of List of fossil primates

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 mammal, which probably fed on insects and fruits. However, the precise source of the primates remains controversial and even their arboreal origin has recently been questioned. As it has been suggested, many other mammal orders are arboreal too, but they have not developed the same characteristics as primates. Nowadays, some well known genera, such as Purgatorius and Plesiadapis, thought to be the most ancient primates for a long time, are not usually considered as such by recent authors, who tend to include them in the new order Plesiadapiformes, within superorder Euarchontoglires. Some, to avoid confusions, employ the unranked term Euprimates, which excludes Plesiadapiformes. That denomination is not used here.

There is an academic debate on the time the first primates appeared. One of the earliest probable primate fossils is the problematic Altiatlasius koulchii, perhaps an Omomyid, but perhaps a non-Primate Plesiadapiform, which lived in Morocco, during the Paleocene, around 60 Ma. However, other studies, including molecular clock studies, have estimated the origin of the primate branch to have been in the mid-Cretaceous period, around 85 Ma, that is to say, in the time previous to the extinction of dinosaurs and the successful mammal radiation. Nevertheless, there seems to be a consensus about the monophyletic origin of the order, although the evidence is not clear.

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Purgatorius in the context of Plesiadapiformes

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 together with the Dermoptera form the Primatomorpha. Purgatorius may not be a primate as an extinct sister to the rest of the Dermoptera or a separate, more basal stem pan-primate branch. Even with Purgatorius removed, the crown primates may even have emerged in this group.

Plesiadapiformes first appear in the fossil record between 65 and 55 million years ago, although many were extinct by the beginning of the Eocene. They may be the earliest known mammals to have finger nails in place of claws. In 1990, K.C. Beard attempted to link the Plesiadapiformes with the order Dermoptera. They proposed that paromomyid Phenacolemur had digital proportions of the fossil indicated gliding habits similar to that of colugos.

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Purgatorius in the context of Evolution of primates

The evolutionary history of the primates can be traced back 57-90 million years. One of the oldest known primate-like mammal species, Plesiadapis, came from North America; another, Archicebus, came from China. Other such early primates include Altiatlasius and Algeripithecus, which were found in Northern Africa. Other similar basal primates were widespread in Eurasia and Africa during the tropical conditions of the Paleocene and Eocene.Purgatorius is the genus of the four extinct species believed to be among the earliest example of a primate or a proto-primate, a primatomorph precursor to the Plesiadapiformes, dating to as old as 66 million years ago.

The surviving tropical population of primates, which is seen most completely in the upper Eocene and lowermost Oligocene fossil beds of the Faiyum depression southwest of Cairo, gave rise to all living species—lemurs of Madagascar, lorises of Southeast Asia, galagos or "bush babies" of Africa, and the anthropoids: platyrrhine or New World monkeys, catarrhines or Old World monkeys, and the apes, including Homo sapiens.

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LINKED FROM (PARENTS)
← List of fossil primates ← Plesiadapiformes ← Evolution of primates ← Plesiadapiform
LINKS TO (CHILDREN)
Genus → Extinction → Eutheria → Species → Primate → Primatomorpha → Plesiadapiformes → Montana → Tullock Formation → Paleocene → Hell Creek Formation → McCone County, Montana → Ravenscrag Formation → Bug Creek Group → Leptictid → Rat → Squirrel → Tree shrew → Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary →