42 Million-year-old Texas Fossils Unmask New Primate Genus and Species

A new genus and species of primate has been discovered. Though, long vanished from the earth it was kept preserved in the fossil record. Scienrecovered molar, pre-molar and incisor teeth from a 42 million-year-old new primate genus and also from three other new primate species.

The species were recovered from 42 million-year-old deposits in the tropical, mangrove palm swamp of the Eocene age Laredo Formation. The Formation is exposed in Lake Casa Blanca International State Park in Laredo.

The middle Eocene shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico lay 150 miles inland of its present position! This is revealed by the association of primate fossils with the skeletal remains of oysters, sharks, rays, giant aquatic snakes and crocodiles found along with mangrove palm fruits and pollen, as per Westgate — a professor of earth and space sciences at Lamar and a research associate in the Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory, Texas Natural Science Center, University of Texas-Austin.

As per Westgate, the presence of a diverse primate community along with four species living on the Texas coast during late middle Eocene time is significant. It is because, during that period, primate diversity in North Americas northern interior had diminished greatly.

This diminution is greatly because of the cooling of the global climate and uplifting of the Rocky Mountains. The Texas coasts tropical environment seems to have allowed primates to thrive locally. Their relatives in the continental interior, conversely, faced near extinction. Posted by: Irani    Source