Athena Review Image Archive ™
Rooneyia viejas skull
Skull of Rooneyia viejas (after Wilson 1966)
Rooneyia viejas was
an adapid primate from the Early Oligocene in Texas. It was discovered
by Wilson (1966) in the Chambers Tuff Formation in the Sierra Vieja of
Trans-Pecos Texas, and dated from the Earliest Chadronian phase of the
Oligocene, about 35 mya.
The
tiny fossil skull has a unique combination of primitive and
derived primate traits which have made its placement problematic. Rooneyia
is described by Wilson (1966) as a Lemuriform. Szalay,
however, considers it to have more omomyid traits. The rounded tooth
cusps indicate Rooneyia was a fruit eater. Simons (1968) described Rooneyia is a Texan catarrhine due to similarity of the upper molars to those of Apidium. Unlike the premolars of the Fayum Apidium, those of Rooneyia
do not have the enlarged paraconules and, as Szalay points out, the
Texan primate has one less premolar and a relatively smaller canine.
References
Szalay
Wilson, J. 1966
.
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