Posted on 05/22/2010 8:46:31 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Seiffert says during the last 30 years or so, three major primate groups were established as being present in Africa some 55 to 34 million years ago: early monkeys, lemur-like primates, and an extinct group called adapiforms. But the newly discovered primate's teeth place Nosmips in Africa at the same time. What's more, its teeth suggest it could be an evolutionary oddity that is not closely related to any of these groups... Right now Nosmips is one of those rare mystery fossils and so far is only known by 12 teeth, most of which were found in isolation at a site in the Fayum Depression about 40 miles outside Cairo, Egypt. The discoveries result from work during several field seasons over nine years... Analysis shows Nosmips had a rare combination of enlarged and elongated premolars with simple upper molars. It also had premolar teeth that had taken on the form of molars, instead of being relatively simple as in most other primates. "Nosmips appears to be a highly specialized member of a previously undocumented and presumably quite ancient endemic African primate lineage" Seiffert said. The researchers note that Nosmips lived alongside another specialized primate named Afradapis, which the same team described last year in a paper in the journal Nature. Seiffert and colleagues compared the teeth of these extinct species with those of living primates, and determined that Afradapis had adaptations for eating leaves, whereas Nosmips probably ate more fruits and insects.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
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Undocumented primate?
We got monkeys comin in now?
There is just 12 teeth?
They are going to base their theory of the life and times of an entire species based on 12 teeth?
Their theories will last until someone find a new fossil.
My theory is that the teeth belong to an alien visitor. heh.
KSM?
An undocumented primate? Probably a heretofore unregistered Democrat.
Probably registered to vote though.
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