A New Primate

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100511092149.htm

There has been found a new type of primate; the 'Nosmips aenigmaticus.' This type of primate has been identified through fossils of its teeth, very well preserved. These primates have been dated back by 37 million years. The only fossils that paleontologists have are the teeth, so they do not know what the bodies of the actual things look like, but from what they can infer, these primates are not closely related, if related at all, to the other three groups of primates: the lemur-like primates, the early monkeys, or the extinct adapiforms. Also, through the teeth fossils, we're able to infer that these extinct primates ate more insects than they did leaves, which is another reason why they're not very closely related to the other primate groups. Since these fossils are not closely related to those of other primates, the fossils could lead to some sort of extraordinary information that could solve many unknown puzzles to primate evolution.


I was looking for an article of fossils, of any kind, and I came across this. I thought this article was amazing, and very thought-provoking. I'm very interested in learning about fossils, and how they compare with other organisms that are present in our everyday lives. So, this article was perfect! I thought it was amazing to have found an official fourth type of primate, and how this will probably solve some unanswered questions that we have about evolution. What I'm really excited about is how the body of the primate will look, and I'm also wondering if scientists can conjure an educated guess as to how the head of the primate looks compared to its teeth. Overall, I found this article to be amazing.