Rooneyia omomyid Skull Replica

Description

Rooneyia omomyid Skull Replica measures 4.0 x 2.5 x 2.5 inches. Rooneyia omomyid skull is a museum-quality polyurethane resin cast from California Academy of Sciences specimen. 2-part skull (separate cranium and mandible). 1:1 scale. Made in USA.

A fossil tarsiform primate of Europe and North America of the earliest Eocene.

Rooneyia is an extinct genus of primate. The genus includes one species, Rooneyia viejaensis. It lived approximately 37 million years ago. Tim Ryan, at the Pennsylvania State University, has scanned the only known specimen.

By the late middle Eocene some North American omomyids evolved body masses in excess (2.2 lb. and frugivorous diets. The largest omomyids were Macrotarsius and Ourayia. Large orbits in genera such as Tetonius, Shoshonius, Necrolemur, and Microchoerus indicate that these taxa were probably nocturnal.

At least one omomyid genus from the late Eocene of Texas had small orbits and was probably diurnal.

Like primates alive today, omomyids had grasping hands and feet with digits tipped by nails instead of claws, although they possessed toilet claws like modern lemurs. Features of their skeletons strongly indicate that omomyids lived in trees.

In at least one genus the lower leg bones, the tibia and fibula, were fused as in modern tarsiers. This feature may indicate that Necrolemur leaped frequently. Most other omomyid genera lack specializations for leaping, and their skeletons are more like those of living dwarf and mouse lemurs.

Scientific Classification

• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Chordata
• Class: Mammalia
• Order: Primates
• Suborder: Haplorhini
• Subfamily: †Omomyinae
• Genus: †Rooneyia
• Species: †R. viejaensis
• Binomial name: Rooneyia viejaensis