我們關(guān)于靈長類演化最早階段的知識受限于化石記錄中所存在的空白,。來自中國“始新世”早期（距今5500萬年前）的一種很小的,、非常古老的靈長類動物的一個近乎完整的,、基本上還通過關(guān)節(jié)連接在一起的骨架的發(fā)現(xiàn),，為這個問題提供了一些線索,。這一新發(fā)現(xiàn)的靈長類動物似乎是眼鏡猴的最早已知近親，說明類人猿與其他靈長類動物分化的時間非常早,。這種動物跟現(xiàn)代“矮鼠狐猴”大小差不多,，其骨架特征說明它是一種靈敏的食蟲動物，習(xí)慣白天活動,。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦英文摘要：
Nature doi:10.1038/nature12200
The oldest known primate skeleton and early haplorhine evolution
Xijun Ni, Daniel L. Gebo, Marian Dagosto, Jin Meng,Paul Tafforeau, John J. Flynn & K. Christopher Beard
Reconstructing the earliest phases of primate evolution has been impeded by gaps in the fossil record, so that disagreements persist regarding the palaeobiology and phylogenetic relationships of the earliest primates. Here we report the discovery of a nearly complete and partly articulated skeleton of a primitive haplorhine primate from the early Eocene of China, about 55?million years ago, the oldest fossil primate of this quality ever recovered. Coupled with detailed morphological examination using propagation phase contrast X-ray synchrotron microtomography, our phylogenetic analysis based on total available evidence indicates that this fossil is the most basal known member of the tarsiiform clade. In addition to providing further support for an early dichotomy between the strepsirrhine and haplorhine clades, this new primate further constrains the age of divergence between tarsiiforms and anthropoids. It also strengthens the hypothesis that the earliest primates were probably diurnal, arboreal and primarily insectivorous mammals the size of modern pygmy mouse lemurs.
