Welcome to Afrasia
Name Definition
Africa and Asia (a combination of both)
Name Given By
Y. Chaimanee. in 2012
Location
Pondaung Formation of Myanmar in Burma, southeast Asia
Classification
Mammalia, Primates, Haplorhini, Eosimiiformes, Afrotarsiidae
Size
estimated to be around 100 grams (3.5 oz)
Temporal Range
Priabonian stage of the late Eocene, ~38 million years ago
Ecological niche
small insectivore
Species/Sub Species
A. dijijidae
Diet
structure of the dentition suggests that Afrasia most likely consumed insects
Introduction
Afrasia is an extinct genus of afrotarsiid primates that lived in Myanmar, Burma in southeast Asia during the late Eocene epoch. While it is only described from teeth, Afrasia is one of the more significant finds made by palaeontologists since these teeth were those of an eosimiiform. Because of Afrasias’ discovery in Asia, it suggests that eosimiiforms and eosimiids as well first evolved in Asia and then dispersed to Africa. However, this theory still has many inconsistent factors with the main idea, including how eosimiiforms migrated to Africa when the two continents didn’t have any kind of isthmus or land mass connecting them like how they are today. It is also possible that this occurred through the process of convergent evolution where two separate lineages of animals evolve into similar forms due to similar environmental pressures (one example is Thylacoleo which most know as the Marsupial lion because it looks like a cat and has retractable claws too, though it is actually just a carnivorous marsupial), but it might also be best to wait and study while new discoveries are being made. Because eosimiids and eosimiiforms are known both on Asia and Africa, Afrasia has been named after a combination of these two continents’ names. Afrasia, however, is not actually an eosimiid itself, but is in a family that is closely related called the Afrotarsiidae along with Afrotarsius, another African eosimiiform, whom has a nearly identical tooth structure compared to Afrasia. The Afrotarsiidae and Eosimiidae trace back to the Eosimiiformes infraorder which shows how they are related.