EARLIEST COMPLETE DENTITION OF AN ANTHROPOID PRIMATE FROM THE LATE MIDDLE EOCENE OF SHANXI PROVINCE, CHINA

The complete lower dentition of a new species of the basal anthropoid genus Eosimias shows a combination of primitive and derived traits unk nown in other living or fossil primates. Although certain dental trait s are decidedly more primitive in Eosimias than in other basal anthrop oids, numerous derived aspects of jaw and dental morphology support th e anthropoid affinities of Eosimiidae. Eosimiids document an early str uctural phase in the evolution of higher primates. Phylogenies that de rive early anthropoids from cerca-moniine adapiforms are inconsistent with eosimiid anatomy. Because early fossil anthropoids are known from both Asia and Africa, the fossil record is presently insufficient to specify the continent on which this clade originated.