Dental Variation in Early Eocene Teilhardina belgica, with Notes on the Anterior Dentition of Some Early Tarsiiformes

Abstract

Statistical analysis of dental variation in specimens currently placed in Teilhardina belgica from the Belgian locality of Dormaal suggests that these specimens probably represent no more than a single biological species. Within this species sample, most specimens have an alveolus for ‘P₁’ (or the anterior root of P2), but one specimen clearly lacks this alveolus. In the type specimen of Teilhardina belgica, the alveolus for the lower central incisor was only slightly larger than that for I2, a similarity to some other omomyids. The similarities shared by Teilhardina and Eocene Adapidae all appear to be retentions of primitive primate morphology, and thus they do not necessarily indicate any close relationship of early Omomyidae and Adapidae.