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TITLE: Early Eocene Microsyops (Mammalia, ?Primates) from the Washakie Basin, southern Wyoming, with a description of newly recovered specimens
AUTHOR: Frank P. Cuozzo and Kelly T. Inman
JOURNAL: PaleoBios
PUBLISHED: Sep 15, 2004
NOTES: 24(2)
ABSTRACT: Microsyops is a small-bodied mammalian genus that spans a biostratigraphic range from the early through late middle Eocene of North America, and is well-known from many areas of the interior Rocky Mountain region. Microsyops has previously been described in detail, largely based on material from the better-known early Tertiary basins of Wyoming (e.g., Bighorn and Wind River Basins). Here we present data on a stratigraphically controlled Microsyops sample from the early Eocene (Graybullian and Lysitean faunal zones) of the Washakie Basin, Wyoming. Although the sample described here consists primarily of isolated teeth, one specimen collected in 2001 from Lysitean strata (biochron Wa6) in the Bitter Creek area of the basin preserves the mandibular symphysis, alveoli for the incisor and P2, and complete teeth from P3 through M2. Measurements for this specimen fall within published size ranges for M. latidens. In addition, this specimen exhibits a P4 talonid morphology (distinct hypoconulid) consistent with that of M. latidens. Specimens from the older Graybullian strata of the Bitter Creek and Patrick Draw areas exhibit a morphology consistent with M. angustidens (e.g., variably present maxillary molar mesostyles). The apparent transition from M. angustidens to M. latidens across the Graybullian-Lysitean boundary in the Washakie Basin is consistent with the pattern of phyletic change seen in Microsyops in other areas of Wyoming (e.g., Bighorn Basin). This suggests a general pattern of early Tertiary biostratigraphic change and taxonomic diversity for microsyopids throughout the northern Rocky Mountain region.
COLLECTION: PaleoBios Archive Public
ID: 234

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    BNHM      University of California, Berkeley