''Europolemur klatti'' was a medium to large size

adapiformes 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 ...

primate Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...

that lived on the

continent A continent is any of several large geographical regions. Continents are generally identified by convention (norm), convention rather than any strict criteria. A continent could be a single large landmass, a part of a very large landmass, as ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

from the middle to early

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

. One possible relative to this species is '' Margarita stevensi'', whose type specimen is about the size of a

white-footed sportive lemur The white-footed sportive lemur, white-footed weasel lemur, or dry-bush weasel lemur (''Lepilemur leucopus'') is a species of lemur in the family Lepilemuridae, the sportive lemurs. It is similar in appearance to other lemurs in the family, with ...

(''Lepilemur leucopus''). Characteristic of most adapines are the reduced or absence of a paraconid and morphology of the paracristid. These and a few other features are synapomorphies that were used to link ''E. klatti'' with '' Leptadapis priscus'' and '' Microadapis sciureus'', as well as ''

Smilodectes ''Smilodectes'' is a genus of Adapiformes, adapiform primate that lived in North America during the middle Eocene. It possesses a post-orbital bar and grasping thumbs and toes. ''Smilodectes'' has a small cranium size and the foramen magnum was l ...

''.

Morphology

''Europolemur klatti'' is part of a group of long-digited fossils, and most likely approximates early euprimate hand proportions. ''E. klatti'' has a grasping

hallux Toes are the digits of the foot of a tetrapod. Animal species such as cats that walk on their toes are described as being ''digitigrade''. Humans, and other animals that walk on the soles of their feet, are described as being ''plantigrade''; ...

and there is evidence that supports that ''E. klatti'' may have had

nail Nail or Nails may refer to: In biology * Nail (anatomy), toughened protective protein-keratin (known as alpha-keratin, also found in hair) at the end of an animal or human digit, such as fingernail * Nail (beak), a plate of hard horny tissue a ...

s instead of

claw A claw is a curved, pointed appendage found at the end of a toe or finger in most amniotes (mammals, reptiles, birds). Some invertebrates such as beetles and spiders have somewhat similar fine, hooked structures at the end of the leg or Arthro ...

s. This insinuates that stabilizing the tips of the digits and hand must have in some way been an important function for them and their lifestyle in their habitat. Relative to the forearm, the hand of ''E. klatti'' was large which may be related to vertical climbing or posture. The shape of the

calcaneus In humans and many other primates, the calcaneus (; from the Latin ''calcaneus'' or ''calcaneum'', meaning heel; : calcanei or calcanea) or heel bone is a bone of the Tarsus (skeleton), tarsus of the foot which constitutes the heel. In some other ...

(heel) resembles that found in ''

'' and ''

Notharctus ''Notharctus'' is a genus of Adapiformes, adapiform primate that lived in North America and Europe during the late to middle Eocene. The body form of ''Notharctus'' is similar to that of modern rats. Its fingers were elongated for clamping onto ...

''. ''E. klatti'' had an average body mass of 1.7 kilograms.

Dentition

In 1995, two isolated upper molars belonging to ''E. klatti'' were found in an old lake deposit during excavations by the Natural History Museum of Mainz (''Naturhistorisches Museum Mainz/Landessammlung fur Naturkunde Rheinland-Pfalz''). The museum determined that the molars — as well as a mandible with nearly complete dentition belonging to another cercamoniine, '' Periconodon'' — were representative of the first primates from the Middle Eocene Eckfeld maar in Southwest Eifel, Germany. ''E. klatti'' has a dental formula of 2:1:3:3 and the milk dentition of this species consisted of four

premolar The premolars, also called premolar Tooth (human), teeth, or bicuspids, are transitional teeth located between the Canine tooth, canine and Molar (tooth), molar teeth. In humans, there are two premolars per dental terminology#Quadrant, quadrant in ...

s while the adults only had three premolars.

References

External links

Mikko's Phylogeny Archive
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5413766 Prehistoric strepsirrhines Eocene primates Prehistoric mammals of Europe Prehistoric mammals of North America