Notharctus

Name: Notharctus.
Phonetic: No-fark-tuss.
Named By: Joesph Leidy‭ ‬-‭ ‬1870.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Mammalia,‭ ‬Primates,‭ ‬Notharctidae,‭ ‬Notharctinae.
Species: N.‭ ‬tenebrosus‭ (‬type‭)‬,‭ ‬N.‭ ‬pugnax,‭ ‬N.‭ ‬robinsoni,‭ ‬N.‭ ‬robustior,‭ ‬N.‭ ‬venticolus.
Diet: Pirmarily a herbivore,‭ ‬insects may have also been included in its diet.
Size: Around‭ ‬40-45‭ ‬centimetres long.
Known locations: USA,‭ ‬including Colorado,‭ ‬Nevado,‭ ‬New Mexico,‭ ‬Texas,‭ ‬Utah and Wyoming.
Time period: Ypresian to Lutetian of the Eocene.
Fossil representation: Around at least a hundred individuals.

       Notharctus is easily the best known of the‭ ‬arboreal primates of the Eocene,‭ ‬a popularity thanks largely to the number of fossil specimens for this genus as well as its frequent inclusion in books about prehistoric animals.‭ ‬Notharctus was a small lightly built and flexible primate that is often described as lemur-like.‭ ‬The long limbs and grasping hands of Notharctus meant that it could move through the tree canopy with the utmost ease.‭ ‬The first of its kind to be identified and named,‭ ‬Notharctus is the type genus for the Notharctidae primates as well as the Notharctinae sub group.

Further reading
- On the structure and relations of Notharctus,‭ ‬an American Eocene primate.‭ ‬Memoirs of the AMNH‭ ; ‬new ser.,‭ ‬v.‭ ‬3,‭ ‬pt.‭ ‬2,‭ ‬William Gregory King - 1920.
- Phylogeny of middle Eocene Adapidae (Mammalia, Primates) in North America: Smilodectes and Notharctus. - Journal of Paleontology 53(1):153-163. - P. D. Gingerich - 1979.

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