Adapid

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Noun

Adapid - extinct small mostly diurnal lower primates that fed on leaves and fruit; abundant in North America and Europe 30 to 50 million years ago; their descendents probably include the lemurs; some authorities consider them ancestral to anthropoids but others consider them only cousins

Adapid group

order Primates, Primates - an animal order including lemurs and tarsiers and monkeys and apes and human beings

taxon, taxonomic category, taxonomic group - animal or plant group having natural relations

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References in periodicals archive ?

Gunnell of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor cautions that even though Bugtilemur's teeth look like those of modern lemurs in some respects, in other respects they resemble those of a separate group of ancient primates called adapids.

Lemurs reveal clues to ancient Asian roots. (Science News of the week)

Instead, he finds evidence that anthropoids share closer bonds with lemurlike creatures called adapids.

Asian fossils reveal primate evolution

The new fossils also shed light on whether lemurlike adapids or tarsierlike omomyids living between 55 million and 36 million years ago qualify as simian ancestors.

Egyptian fossils illuminate primate roots

These belong either to the lemurlike adapids, the tarsierlike omomyids, or the early simians, forerunners of monkeys, apes, and humans.

Asian link proposed for primate evolution

Scientists divide forest-dwelling primates living 55 million to 36 million years ago into two families: the adapids, including many species resembling modern lemurs; and the omomyids, comprising several animals with anatomical ties to modern tarsiers.