Publications [#313972] of Elwyn L. Simons

Papers Published

1. EL Simons, PA Holroyd and TM Bown, Early tertiary elephant-shrews from Egypt and the origin of the Macroscelidea., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, vol. 88 no. 21 (1991), pp. 9734-9737, ISSN 0027-8424 [11607230]
   (last updated on 2016/07/08)

   Abstract:
   Recent expeditions to the Fayum Depression, Egypt, have made possible the discovery of mandibles and a maxilla of a new genus and species of late Eocene elephant-shrew as well as initial evidence of the upper dentition of the early Oligocene taxon Metoldobotes. These fossils demonstrate that macroscelideans underwent a significant radiation in the Early Tertiary of Africa. Two new subfamilies are recognized and described. These Tertiary macroscelideans are the most primitive elephant-shrews known and indicate that previous hypotheses of a close phylogenetic relationship between macroscelideans and either lagomorphs, erinaceotans, or tree-shrews are unlikely. Rather, the dental anatomy of the Fayum macroscelideans provides evidence for a derivation of the order from within the Condylarthra.