Carpolestes simpsoni

Carpolestes simpsoni is an extinct species of Plesiadapiforms, late species of Carpolestes which is one of the earliest primate-like mammals appearing in the fossil record during the late Paleocene. C. simpsoni had grasping digits but no forward-facing eyes.

Carpolestes simpsoni

Sisyphos23 · 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
CarpolestesPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Plesiadapoidea
Life habit
arborealPBDB, for Plesiadapoidea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Plesiadapoidea

Time the record covers

At most 9.5 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 57.5 Mya and 48.07 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Paleocene — about 9 of 10 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 1 of 10 occurrencesEocene58–57 Mya — about 1 occurrence57–57 Mya — about 2 occurrences57–57 Mya — about 2 occurrences57–56 Mya — about 2 occurrences56–56 Mya — about 2 occurrences56–56 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences56–55 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences55–55 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences55–55 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences54–54 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences54–53 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences53–53 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences53–53 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences53–52 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences52–52 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences52–52 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences52–51 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences51–51 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences51–51 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences50–50 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences50–50 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences49–49 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences49–49 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences48–48 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences58 Mya47.6 Mya

10 occurrences of Carpolestes simpsoni on record, most of them in the Paleocene. 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

10 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

2 formations

Willwood — 44.78°N, 108.97°WWillwood — 44.30°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 44.72°N, 108.62°WFort Union — 44.30°N, 109.00°W

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The named rock units Carpolestes simpsoni has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 6 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Carpolestes simpsoni and its relatives

Paleocene

Where Carpolestes simpsoni and its relatives were recorded in the Paleocene.

Found in the same rock

113 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 10 sites for Carpolestes simpsoni, and this reads all 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

1 reference

Each of the 10 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. Each entry links to the Paleobiology Database's own record for the work.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Carpolestes simpsoni

Credit
Sisyphos23
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Carpolestes simpsoni · ummp:vp:101963

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 itCarpolestes through timeFormations of the PaleoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Bloch and Gingerich 1998