A FOSSIL primate the size of a mouse and weighing only 10 grams has been
found in China (Journal of Human Evolution, vol 38, p 585). “These are
the smallest primates ever discovered, alive or extinct,” says Dan Gebo of
Northern Illinois University in DeKalb.
The animal, which has yet to be named, lived about 45 million years ago. Its
distinctive curved foot bones mark it as belonging to the prosimians, a group
that includes lemurs. The same deposits included ankle bones of a 15-gram
primate called Eosimias, which Gebo says fills an empty evolutionary
gap between prosimians and…
