Afrasia djijidae

Djijidae The four teeth of Afrasia

• Myanmar

Afrasia djijidae is a primate species of the extinct family of Afrotarsiidae. The absolutely dated, approximately 37 million year old fossil remains from the lower Upper Eocene were discovered near the village of Myaing in Myanmar and 2012 described by an international group of researchers for the first time scientifically. Afrasia djijidae is also the type species and is currently the only type of newly introduced species Afrasia. It was defined in the original description based on only four molars and placed in a close family nearby and similar old style Afrotarsius libycus that occurred in Africa ( Libya) and is also occupied by only a few molars. In both species, the maxillary teeth are almost identical in shape.

The term Afrasia refers to the spread of relatives circle of this kind ( the subordination Eosimiiformes ) in Africa and Asia. The epithet djijidae reminds loud first description " to a young girl from the village Mogaung in central Myanmar. "

Due to the smallness of the teeth has been estimated that the animal could have weighed about 100 grams.

The four teeth from Myanmar were recovered in the course of six years from several tons of sediment and interpreted in the original description of the genus and species as evidence that the ancestors of the " authentics monkeys " ( the Anthropoidea ) originated in Asia and from there to around 40 million years have migrated to Africa. In an accompanying article, this interpretation was rejected as too broad.