Rooneyia is an extinct genus of primate

Primate

A primate is a mammal of the order Primates , which contains prosimians and simians. Primates arose from ancestors that lived in the trees of tropical forests; many primate characteristics represent adaptations to life in this challenging three-dimensional environment...

. The genus includes one species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

, Rooneyia viejaensis. It lived approximately 55 million years ago. Tim Ryan, at the Pennsylvania State University

Pennsylvania State University

The Pennsylvania State University, commonly referred to as Penn State or PSU, is a public research university with campuses and facilities throughout the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855, the university has a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service...

, has scanned the only known specimen.

Rooneyia is an omomyid

Omomyid

Omomyids are a diverse group of early primates that radiated during the Eocene epoch between about 55 and 34 million years ago . Fossils of omomyids are found in North America, Europe, Asia, and possibly Africa...

, which is a prosimian

Prosimian

Prosimians are a grouping of mammals defined as being primates, but not monkeys or apes. They include, among others, lemurs, bushbabies, and tarsiers. They are considered to have characteristics that are more primitive than those of monkeys and apes. Prosimians are the only primates native to...

 primate family, related to the lemur

Lemur

Lemurs are a clade of strepsirrhine primates endemic to the island of Madagascar. They are named after the lemures of Roman mythology due to the ghostly vocalizations, reflective eyes, and the nocturnal habits of some species...

s and the aye-aye

Aye-aye

The aye-aye is a lemur, a strepsirrhine primate native to Madagascar that combines rodent-like teeth and a special thin middle finger to fill the same ecological niche as a woodpecker...

. A member of the Suborder Haplorrhini

Haplorrhini

The haplorhines, the "dry-nosed" primates , are members of the Haplorhini clade: the prosimian tarsiers and the anthropoids...

, it is related to tarsier

Tarsier

Tarsiers are haplorrhine primates of the genus Tarsius, a genus in the family Tarsiidae, which is itself the lone extant family within the infraorder Tarsiiformes...

s, monkey

Monkey

A monkey is a primate, either an Old World monkey or a New World monkey. There are about 260 known living species of monkey. Many are arboreal, although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Monkeys are generally considered to be intelligent. Unlike apes, monkeys...

s, ape

Ape

Apes are Old World anthropoid mammals, more specifically a clade of tailless catarrhine primates, belonging to the biological superfamily Hominoidea. The apes are native to Africa and South-east Asia, although in relatively recent times humans have spread all over the world...

s, and human

Human

Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...

s. It is a member of the Subfamily Omomyinae and Tribe Rooneyini. John A. Wilson, at the Texas Natural Science Center, discovered the type specimen in 1964.

External links

• Encyclopædia Britannica listing