Rooneyia omomyid Skull Replica

$158.00

Like primates alive today, Omomyids had grasping hands and feet with digits tipped by nails instead of claws, although they possessed grooming claws like modern lemurs.

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Description

Rooneyia omomyid Skull Replica is museum quality polyurethane cast. Rooneyia omomyid Skull Replica is made in USA. A fossil tarsiform primate of Europe and North America of the earliest Eocene. Our precise skull can be used as a teaching tool, museum skull exhibit, home décor skull, or office décor skull.

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.

Rooneyia is an omomyid primate. As a member of the suborder Haplorrhini, it is related to tarsiers, monkeys, apes, and humans. It is a member of the subfamily Omomyinae and tribe Rooneyini. John A. Wilson, at the Texas Natural Science Center, discovered the type specimen in 1964.

Features that characterize many omomyids include large eye sockets, shortened rostra and dental arcades, loss of anterior premolars, cheek teeth adapted for insectivorous or frugivorous diets, and relatively small body mass.

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.

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Additional information

Weight 4 lbs
Rooneyia omomyid Facts

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