Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-07T05:20:13.749Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Early Eocene Paromomyidae (Mammalia, Primates) from the southern Bighorn Basin, Wyoming: Systematics and evolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

Mary T. Silcox ,
Kenneth D. Rose  and
Thomas M. Bown
Mary T. Silcox
Affiliation:
University of Winnipeg, Department of Anthropology, 515 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9, Canada,
Kenneth D. Rose
Affiliation:
Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205,
Thomas M. Bown
Affiliation:
Erathem-Vanir Geological, Boulder, Colorado 80302,
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We present a critical review of the alpha taxonomy and evolution of Eocene North American paromomyid primates, based on analysis of more than 570 stratigraphically controlled dental and gnathic specimens from the early Eocene of the southern Bighorn Basin, Wyoming (Wasatchian, Willwood Formation). In addition to documenting numerous previously unpublished specimens of known taxa (including deciduous teeth), we also describe a new species, Phenacolemur willwoodensis n. sp., from the upper part of the Willwood Formation (Wa 5 and 6). The new species is intermediate in size between Phenacolemur simonsi and Phenacolemur citatus and has both primitive features (e.g., retention of m2–3 paraconids, relatively long molar trigonids) and derived traits (e.g., relatively reduced paraconid on m1 and no p4 paracristid, unlike Paromomys). Overall patterns of dental evolution in southern Bighorn Basin paromomyids provide some support for previously hypothesized periods of faunal change (Biohorizons). In particular, Phenacolemur praecox evolves into the similarly sized but morphologically distinct Phenacolemur fortior at Biohorizon A, and P. fortior is replaced by P. citatus just below Biohorizon B. Two taxa previously believed to have become extinct at Biohorizon A (Ignacius graybullianus, P. simonsi) are shown to have persisted about a million years longer than previously thought. The Bighorn Basin paromomyids are of general interest in comprising a very dense sample that allows for the study of patterns of evolution against the backdrop of well-understood patterns of change in other mammalian lineages, and in climatic variables.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 82 , Issue 6 , November 2008 , pp. 1074 - 1113
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aumont, A. 2003. European paromomyids (Plesiadapiformes: Mammalia): a reappraisal. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 23(suppl. to 3):30A.Google Scholar
Aumont, A. 2004. Première découverte d'espèces sympatriques de Paromomyidés (Plesiadapiformes, Mammifères) en Europe. Comptes Rendus Palevol, 3:27–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Badgley, C. 1990. A statistical assessment of last appearances in the Eocene record of mammals. In Bown, T. M. and Rose, K. D. (eds.), Dawn of the Age of Mammals in the northern part of the Rocky Mountain Interior, North America. Geological Society of America Special Paper 243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Badgley, C. and Gingerich, P. D. 1988. Sampling and faunal turnover in Early Eocene mammals. Palaegoegraphy, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 63:141–157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beard, K. C. 1989. Postcranial anatomy, locomotor adaptations, and paleoecology of Early Cenozoic Plesiadapidae, Paromomyidae, and Micromomyidae (Eutheria, Dermoptera). Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore Maryland, 661 p.Google Scholar
Beard, K. C. 1990. Gliding behavior and palaecology of the alleged primate family Paromomyidae (Mammalia, Dermoptera). Nature, 345:340–341.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beard, K. C. 1993a. Phylogenetic systematics of the Primatomorpha, with special reference to Dermoptera, p. 129–150. In Szalay, F. S., Novacek, M. J., and McKenna, M. C. (eds.), Mammal Phylogeny: Placentals. Springer-Verlag, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beard, K. C. 1993b. Origin and evolution of gliding in Early Cenozoic Dermoptera (Mammalia, Primatomorpha), p. 63–90. In MacPhee, R. D. E. (ed.), Primates and their Relatives in Phylogenetic Perspective. Plenum Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bloch, J. I. and Boyer, D. M. 2007. New skeletons of Paleocene-Eocene Plesiadapiformes: A diversity of arboreal positional behaviors in early primates, p. 535–581. In Ravosa, M. J. and Dagosto, M. (eds.), Primate Origins and Adaptations: Adaptations and Evolution. Plenum Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bloch, J. I. and Gingerich, P. D. 1998. Carpolestes simpsoni, new species (Mammalia, Proprimates) from the late Paleocene of the Clark's Fork Basin, Wyoming. Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, 30:131–162.Google Scholar
Bloch, J. I. and Silcox, M. T. 2001. New basicrania of Paleocene-Eocene Ignacius: re-evaluation of the plesiadapiform-dermopteran link. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 116:184–198.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bloch, J. I., Boyer, D. M., Gingerich, P. D., and Gunnell, G. F. 2002. New primitive paromomyid from the Clarkforkian of Wyoming and dental eruption in Plesiadapiformes. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 22:366–379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bloch, J. I., Silcox, M. T., Boyer, D. M., and Sargis, E. J., 2007. New Paleocene skeletons and the relationship of plesiadapiforms to crown-clade primates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 104:1159–1164.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bown, T. M. 1979. Geology and mammalian paleontology of the Sand Creek facies, lower Willwood Formation (Lower Eocene), Washakie County, Wyoming. Geological Survey of Wyoming Memoir, 2:1–151.Google Scholar
Bown, T. M. and Kraus, M. J. 1987. Lower Eocene alluvial paleosols (Willwood Formation, northwest Wyoming, USA) and their significance for paleoecology, paleoclimatology, and basin analysis. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 34:1–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bown, T. M. and Kraus, M. J. 1993. Time-stratigraphic reconstruction and integration of paleopedologic, sedimentologic, and biotic events (Willwood Formation, Lower Eocene, Northwest Wyoming, USA). Palaios, 8:68–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bown, T. M. and Rose, K. D. 1976. New early Tertiary primates and a reappraisal of some Plesiadapiformes. Folia Primatologica, 26:109–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bown, T. M. and Rose, K. D. 1987. Patterns of dental evolution in early Eocene Anatopmorphine primates (Omomyidae) from the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming: Paleontological Society Memoir, 23:1–162.Google Scholar
Bown, T. M., Holroyd, P. A., and Rose, K. D. 1994a. Mammal extinctions, body size, and paleotemperature. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 91:10403–10406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bown, T. M., Rose, K. D., Simons, E. L., and Wing, S. L. 1994b. Distribution and stratigraphic correlation of upper Paleocene and lower Eocene fossil mammal and plant localities of the Fort Union, Willwood, and Tatman Formations, southern Bighorn Basin, Wyoming. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper 1540:1–103.Google Scholar
Boyer, D. M. and Bloch, J. I. In Press. Constraining locomotor repertoires of Paleocene Paromomyidae and Micromomyidae (Mammalia, Primates) using functional morphology of new, dentally-associated skeletons: a comparative approach. In Sargis, E. J. and Dagosto, M. (eds.), Mammalian Evolutionary Morphology: A Tribute to Frederick S. Szalay. Plenum Press, New York.Google Scholar
Chew, A. C. 2006. Biostratigraphy, Paleoecology and Synchronized Evolution in the Early Eocene Mammalian Fauna of the Central Bighorn Basin, Wyoming. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore Maryland, 661 p.Google Scholar
Delson, E. 1971. Fossil mammals of the early Wasatchian Powder River local fauna, Eocene of Northeast Wyoming. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 146:307–364.Google Scholar
Fricke, H. C., Clyde, W. C., O'neil, J. R., and Gingerich, P. D. 1998. Evidence for rapid climate change in North America during the latest Paleocene thermal maximum: oxygen isotope compositions of biogenic phosphate from the Bighorn Basin (Wyoming). Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 160:193–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gazin, C. L. 1971. Paleocene primates from the Shotgun Member of the Fort Union Formation in the Wind River Basin, Wyoming. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 84:13–38.Google Scholar
Gingerich, P. D. 1976. Cranial anatomy and evolution of early Tertiary Plesiadapidae (Mammalia, Primates). University of Michigan Papers on Paleontology, 15:1–141.Google Scholar
Gingerich, P. D. 1989. New earliest Wasatchian mammalian fauna from the Eocene of northwestern Wyoming: composition and diversity in a rarely sampled high-floodplain assemblage. University of Michigan Papers on Paleontology, 28:1–97.Google Scholar
Gingerich, P. D. 1991. Systematics and evolution of Early Eocene Perissodactyla (Mammalia) in the Clark's Fork Basin, Wyoming. Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, 28:181–213.Google Scholar
Gingerich, P. D. 2001. Biostratigraphy of the continental Paleocene-Eocene boundary interval on Polecat Bench in the northern Bighorn Basin, p. 37–71. In Gingerich, P. D. (ed.), Paleocene-Eocene Stratigraphy and Biotic Change in the Bighorn and Clarks Fork Basins, Wyoming. University of Michigan Papers on Paleontology, 33.Google Scholar
Godinot, M. 1984. Un nouveau genre de Paromomyidae (Primates) de l'Éocène inférieur d'Europe. Folia Primatologica, 43:84–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gradstein, F. M., Ogg, J. G., and Smith, A. G. (eds.). 2004. A Geological Time Scale 2004. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gunnell, G. F. 1989. Evolutionary history of Microsyopoidea (Mammalia, ?Primates) and the relationship between Plesiadapiformes and Primates. University of Michigan Papers on Paleontology, 27.Google Scholar
Guthrie, D. A. 1967. The mammalian fauna of the Lysite Member, Wind River Formation (early Eocene) of Wyoming. Memoirs of the Southern California Academy of Sciences, 5:1–53.Google Scholar
Hamrick, M. W., Rosenman, B. A., and Brush, J. A. 1999. Phalangeal morphology of the Paromomyidae (?Primates, Plesiadapiformes):the evidence for gliding behavior reconsidered. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 109:397–413.3.0.CO;2-9>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jepsen, G. L. 1930. Stratigraphy and paleontology of the Paleocene of Northeastern Park County, Wyoming. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 69:463–528.Google Scholar
Kay, R. F., Thewissen, J. G. M., and Yoder, A. D. 1992. Cranial anatomy of Ignacius graybullianus and the affinities of the Plesiadapiformes. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 89:477–498.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kay, R. F., Thorington, R. W. Jr., and Houde, P. 1990. Eocene plesiadapiform shows affinities with flying lemurs not primates. Nature, 345:342–344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koch, P. L., Clyde, W. C., Hepple, R. P., Fogel, M. L., Wing, S. L., and Zachos, J. C. 2003. Carbon and oxygen isotope records from paleosols spanning the Paleocene-Eocene boundary, Bighorn Basin, Wyoming. Geological Society of America Special Paper, 369:49–64.Google Scholar
Krause, D. W. 1991. Were paromomyids gliders? Maybe, maybe not. Journal of Human Evolution, 21:177–188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krishtalka, L. 1978. Paleontology and geology of the Badwater Creek area, central Wyoming. Part 15: Review of the late Eocene Primates from Wyoming and Utah, and the Plesitarsiiformes. Annals of the Carnegie Museum, 47:335–60.Google Scholar
Krishtalka, L., Black, C. C., and Riedel, D. W. 1975. Paleontology and geology of the Badwater Creek area, central Wyoming, Part 10: A late Paleocene mammal fauna from the Shotgun Member of the Fort Union Formation. Annals of the Carnegie Museum, 45:179–212.Google Scholar
Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classis, ordines, genera, species cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis: Edito decimal, reformata v. 1. Laurentii Salvii, Stockholm.Google Scholar
Matthew, W. D. 1915. Part IV.—Entelonychia, Primates, Insectivora (part), p. 429–483. In Matthew, W. D. and Granger, W., A revision of the lower Eocene Wasatch and Wind River faunas. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 34.Google Scholar
Matthew, W. D. and Granger, W. 1921. New genera of Paleocene mammals. American Museum Novitates, 13:1–7.Google Scholar
McKenna, M. C. 1960. Fossil Mammalia from the early Wasatchian Four Mile fauna, Eocene of northwest Colorado. University of California Publications in Geological Sciences, 37:1–130.Google Scholar
McKenna, M. C. and Bell, S. K. 1997. Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
O'Leary, M. A. 1996. Dental evolution in the early Eocene Notharctinae (Primates, Adapiformes) from the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming: Documentation of gradual evolution in the oldest true primates. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, 398 p.Google Scholar
Ramaekers, P. 1975. Using polar coordinates to measure variability in samples of Phenacolemur: a method of approach, p. 106–135. In Szalay, F. S. (ed.), Approaches to Primate Paleobiology. Contributions to Primatology, 5.Google Scholar
Robinson, P. 1968. The paleontology and geology of the Badwater Creek Area, central Wyoming, Pt 4, late Eocene primates from Badwater, Wyoming, with a discussion of material from Utah. Annals of the Carnegie Museum, 39:307–26.Google Scholar
Robinson, P. and Ivy, L. D. 1994. Paromomyidae (?Dermoptera) from the Powder River Basin, Wyoming and a discussion of microevolution in closely related species. University of Wyoming Contributions to Geology, 30:91–116.Google Scholar
Rose, K. D. 1975. The Carpolestidae: early Tertiary primates from North America. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 147:1–74.Google Scholar
Rose, K. D. 1981. The Clarkforkian Land-Mammal Age and mammalian faunal composition across the Paleocene-Eocene boundary. University of Michigan Museum, Papers on Paleontology 26.Google Scholar
Rose, K. D. and Bown, T. M. 1993. Succession of Wasatchian Paromomyidae (Plesiadapiformes), Bighorn Basin, Wyoming. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 13, supplement to no. 3:55A.Google Scholar
Rose, K. D. and Gingerich, P. D. 1976. Partial skull of the plesiadapiform primate Ignacius from the early Eocene of Wyoming. Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, 24:181–189.Google Scholar
Rose, K. D., Beard, K. C., and Houde, P. 1993. Exceptional new dentitions of the diminutive plesiadapiforms Tinimomys and Niptomomys (Mammalia), with comments on the upper incisors of Plesiadapiformes. Annals of Carnegie Museum, 62:351–361.Google Scholar
Runestad, J. A. and Ruff, C. B. 1995. Structural adaptations for gliding in mammals with implications for locomotor behavior in paromomyids. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 98:101–119.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sargis, E. J. 2002. The postcranial morphology of Ptilocercus lowii (Scandentia, Tupaiidae): An analysis of primatomorphan and volitantian characters. Journal of Mammalian Evolution, 9:137–160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schankler, D. 1980. Faunal zonation of the Willwood Formation in the central Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, p. 99–144. In Gingerich, P. D. (ed.), Early Cenozoic Paleontology and Stratigraphy of the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming. University of Michigan Museum, Papers on Paleontology 24.Google Scholar
Schiebout, J. A. 1974. Vertebrate paleontology and paleoecology of Paleocene Black Peaks Formation, Big Bend National Park, Texas. Texas Memorial Museum Bulletin 24.Google Scholar
Silcox, M. T. 2001. A phylogenetic analysis of Plesiadapiformes and their relationship to Euprimates and other archontans. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, 728 p.Google Scholar
Silcox, M. T. and Gunnell, G. F. In press. Plesiadapiformes. In Janis, C. M., Gunnell, G. F., and Uhen, M. D. (eds.), Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America. Vol. 2: Marine mammals and smaller terrestrial mammals. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Silcox, M. T. and Rose, K. D. 1997. Stasis and gradual change in Diacodexis from the early Eocene of the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 17(supp. to No. 3):76A.Google Scholar
Simpson, G. G. 1935. The Tiffany fauna, Upper Paleocene. III. Primates, Carnivora, Condylarthra, and Amblypoda. American Museum Novitates, 817:1–28.Google Scholar
Simpson, G. G. 1940. Studies on the earliest Primates. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 77:185–212.Google Scholar
Simpson, G. G. 1955. The Phenacolemuridae, new family of early Primates. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 105:415–441.Google Scholar
Simpson, G. G., Roe, A., and Lewontin, R. C. 1960. Quantitative Zoology, revised edition. Harcourt, Brace, and World, New York.Google Scholar
Smith, M. E., Singer, B. S., and Carroll, A. R. 2004. Discussion and reply: 40Ar/39Ar geochronology of the Eocene Green River Formation, Wyoming. Reply. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 116:253–256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stafford, B. J. and Thorington, R. W. Jr. 1998. Carpal development and morphology in archontan mammals. Journal of Morphology, 235:135–155.3.0.CO;2-8>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tong, Y. and Wang, J. 1998. A preliminary report on the early Eocene mammals of the Wutu fauna, Shandong Province, China, p. 186–193. In Beard, K. C. and Dawson, M. (eds.), Dawn of the Age of Mammals in Asia. Bulletin of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History 34.Google Scholar
Wing, S. L. and Harrington, G. J. 2001. Floral response to rapid warming in the earliest Eocene and implications for concurrent faunal change. Paleobiology, 27:539–563.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wing, S. L., Bao, H., and Koch, P. L. 2000. An early Eocene cool period? Evidence for continental cooling during the warmest part of the Cenozoic, p. 197–237. In Huber, B. T., MacLeod, K. G., and Wing, S. L. (eds.), Warm Climates in Earth History. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar