A second Eocene primate from California

Abstract

In several papers, published in the PROCEEDINGS,(1) I have described some of the very late Eocene mammals obtained by the California Institute at Locality 150 in the Sespe deposits of southern California. Among the forms recently recorded(2) is the tarsiid, Chumashius balchi, related to the genera Omomys and Hemiacodon. The present paper deals with a second primate, evidently related to and presumably derived from the Bridger genus Washakius. This type and associated mammals were found at Locality 180, stratigraphically lower in the Sespe deposits than Locality 150. The faunal stage represented here is clearly earlier than that now being recorded from the latter locality, and is presumably upper Eocene in age. In view of the interest which attaches to fossil members of the primate group in North America, the new type is described in advance of a fuller statement of the occurrence of this older Eocene fauna in the Sespe, north of the Simi Valley.