Plesiadapidae is a

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

of plesiadapiform mammals related to

primate Primates are a diverse order (biology), order of mammals. They are divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include the Tarsiiformes, tarsiers and ...

s known from the

Paleocene The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''pal ...

and

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

of North America,

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

, and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...

. Plesiadapids were abundant in the late Paleocene, and their fossils are often used to establish the ages of fossil faunas.

Classification

McKenna and Bell recognized two subfamilies (Plesiadapinae and Saxonellinae) and one unassigned genus ('' Pandemonium'') within Plesiadapidae. More recently '' Saxonella'' (the only saxonelline) and ''Pandemonium'' have been excluded from the family, leaving only a redundant Plesiadapinae. Within the family, '' Pronothodectes'' is the likely ancestor of all other genera, while ''

Plesiadapis ''Plesiadapis'' is one of the oldest known primate-like mammal genera which existed about 58–55 million years ago in North America and Europe. ''Plesiadapis'' means "near-Adapis", which is a reference to the adapiform primate of the Eocene p ...

'' may be directly ancestral to both ''

Chiromyoides ''Chiromyoides'' is a small plesiadapid primatomorph that is known for its unusually robust upper and lower incisors, deep dentary, and comparatively small cheek teeth. Species of ''Chiromyoides'' are known from the middle Tiffanian through ...

'' and '' Platychoerops''.

References

Plesiadapiformes Paleocene mammals Eocene mammals Paleocene first appearances Prehistoric mammal families {{paleo-mammal-stub