Omomyid Group (Noun)
Meaning
Extinct tiny nocturnal lower primates that fed on fruit and insects; abundant in North America and Europe 30 to 50 million years ago; probably gave rise to the tarsiers; some authorities consider them ancestral to anthropoids but others consider them only cousins.
Classification
Nouns denoting animals.
Examples
- Fossil evidence of the omomyid group indicates their nocturnal habits allowed them to occupy ecological niches unavailable to their diurnal contemporaries.
- Recent research has focused on clarifying the role of the omomyid group as precursors to more advanced primates such as the anthropoids.
- A small primate skeleton uncovered in Europe's early Eocene strata appears to belong to an extinct omomyid group that previously was unknown.
- Specialized vision organs, well-developed auditory apparatuses, and greatly developed grasping ability indicate adaptation by the omomyid group for night-foraging.
- Analysts theorize the physical properties common among all species classified under the omomyid group gave this lower primate taxonomic cohort several distinctive, tarsier-like behavioral and lifestyle preferences.