Plesiadapidae | |
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Plesiadapis | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Plesiadapiformes |
Superfamily: | † Plesiadapoidea |
Family: | †
Plesiadapidae Trouessart, 1897 |
Genera | |
†
Pronothodectes | |
Synonyms | |
Plesiadapinae Trouessart, 1897 |
Plesiadapidae is a family of plesiadapiform mammals related to primates known from the Paleocene and Eocene of North America, Europe, and Asia. [1] [2] Plesiadapids were abundant in the late Paleocene, and their fossils are often used to establish the ages of fossil faunas. [3]
McKenna and Bell [1] 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, [4] leaving only a redundant Plesiadapinae. Within the family, Pronothodectes is the likely ancestor of all other genera, while Plesiadapis may be directly ancestral to both Chiromyoides and Platychoerops. [3]