Adapis
| Adapis Temporal range: Early - Late Eocene
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|---|---|
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| Adapis parisiensis | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Suborder: | Strepsirrhini |
| Family: | †Adapidae |
| Subfamily: | †Adapinae |
| Genus: | †Adapis Cuvier 1822 |
| Type species | |
| Adapis parisiensis Cuvier, 1821
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| Species | |
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Adapis is an extinct genus of Adapidae primate belonging to the subfamily Adapinae.[1] The genus was named by Cuvier in 1821 and contains up to three species.[2] Males were larger than females.[3]
Thinking that the distorted remains from the Paris region belonged to an extinct genus of pachyderms, Cuvier adopted Adapis, a non-scientific name that was "sometimes used for the Hyrax", which was considered related to Adapis by Cuvier.[4] Cuvier's source for the informal name was Conrad Gesner, Historiae animalium, I (Zurich, 1551), chapter on rabbits, p. 395. Gesner himself believed that both adapis and the Aramaic word from which he thought it was derived actually referred to the common rabbit.
References
- ^ http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/5258/Adapis
- ^ The Paleobiology Database
- ^ Gingerich, P. D. (1981). "Cranial morphology and adaptations in Eocene Adapidae. I. Sexual dimorphism in Adapis magnus and Adapis parisiensis" (PDF). American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 56 (3): 217–234. doi:10.1002/ajpa.1330560303.
- ^ Cuvier, G.B., Recherches sur les ossemens fossiles, Vol. 3, 1822, p. 265, footnote
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