Cantius

Cantius is a genus of adapiform primates from the early Eocene of North America and Europe. It is extremely well represented in the fossil record in North America and has been hypothesized to be the direct ancestor of Notharctus in North America. The evolution of Cantius is characterized by a significant increase in body mass that nearly tripled in size. The earliest species were considered small-sized and weighed in around 1 kg (2.2 lb), while the later occurring species were considered medium-sized and likely weighed in around 3 kg (6.6 lb). Though significantly smaller, the fossil remains discovered of the various species of Cantius have striking similarities to that of Notharctus and Smilodectes. It is likely Cantius relied on arboreal quadrupedal locomotion, primarily running and leaping. This locomotor pattern comparable to that of extant lemurs, which has fostered the hypothesis that Cantius and other strepsirrhine adapiforms may have a close phylogenetic affinity to living lemurs.

Cantius

Ghedoghedo · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
NotharctidaePBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Primates
Life habit
arborealPBDB, for Primates
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 5.2 million years on record.

The record covers at least 51.1 Mya to 45.9 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 59.24 Mya to 39.7 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 421 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 421 of 421 occurrencesEocene60–59 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences59–58 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences58–58 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences58–57 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences57–56 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences56–56 Mya — about 31 occurrences56–55 Mya — about 57 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 57 occurrences54–54 Mya — about 57 occurrences54–53 Mya — about 57 occurrences53–52 Mya — about 57 occurrences52–52 Mya — about 57 occurrences52–51 Mya — about 36 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 2 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 2 occurrences49–49 Mya — about 2 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 2 occurrences48–47 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences47–47 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences46–45 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences45–45 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences44–43 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences43–43 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences43–42 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences41–41 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences41–40 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences51.1 Mya45.9 Mya59.7 Mya39.2 Mya

421 occurrences of Cantius on record, most of them in the Eocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

421 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

17 formations

Willwood — 44.00°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.50°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.65°N, 109.93°WWillwood — 44.80°N, 109.10°WWillwood — 44.30°N, 109.00°WWillwood — 44.59°N, 108.86°WWillwood — 44.42°N, 108.69°WWillwood — 44.44°N, 108.63°WWillwood — 44.50°N, 108.67°WWillwood — 44.56°N, 108.70°WWillwood — 44.59°N, 108.62°WWillwood — 44.49°N, 108.54°WWillwood — 44.53°N, 108.43°WWillwood — 44.49°N, 108.81°WWillwood — 44.65°N, 108.54°WWillwood — 44.60°N, 108.32°WWillwood — 44.59°N, 108.41°WWillwood — 44.53°N, 108.32°WWillwood — 44.52°N, 108.57°WWillwood — 44.65°N, 108.90°WWillwood — 44.66°N, 108.68°WWillwood — 44.65°N, 108.83°WWillwood — 44.41°N, 108.79°WWillwood — 44.35°N, 108.75°WWillwood — 44.61°N, 108.76°WWillwood — 44.15°N, 107.86°WWillwood — 44.15°N, 107.86°WWasatch — 40.60°N, 108.10°WWasatch — 41.70°N, 109.00°WWasatch — 42.70°N, 110.10°WWasatch — 41.80°N, 107.00°WWasatch — 41.80°N, 110.70°WWasatch — 42.37°N, 108.91°WWasatch — 41.86°N, 110.78°WWasatch — 41.83°N, 110.75°WWasatch — 41.85°N, 110.75°WDeBeque — 40.00°N, 107.90°WDeBeque — 39.70°N, 107.60°WWind River — 44.00°N, 106.60°WWind River — 43.20°N, 107.10°WWind River — 43.20°N, 108.20°WWind River — 43.20°N, 107.33°W"Wasatch" — 44.00°N, 106.60°WSan Jose — 36.50°N, 107.00°WSan Jose — 35.70°N, 107.00°WFriars — 32.90°N, 117.10°WWillwod — 44.35°N, 108.27°WWillwod — 44.58°N, 108.80°WLignites de Soissonais — 49.08°N, 4.03°ELignites de Soissonais — 49.05°N, 4.00°EGolden Valley — 46.90°N, 102.80°WIndian Meadows — 43.20°N, 108.20°WGreen River — 42.45°N, 108.60°WBlackheath Beds — 51.43°N, 0.15°EArgiles d'lignite du Soissonnais — 49.33°N, 2.66°EMarnes de Dormans — 49.08°N, 3.47°EVaugirard — 48.81°N, 2.24°ESuffolk Pebble Beds — 52.10°N, 1.32°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Cantius has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 7 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Cantius and its relatives

Eocene

Where Cantius and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

688 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 394 sites for Cantius, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

40 references

Each of the 421 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 28 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Cantius

Credit
Ghedoghedo
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Cantius torresi · University of Colorado Museum of Natural History (UCM):Vertebrate:58254

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itNotharctidae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Simons 1962