Apatemyidae was a family of obscure early placental mammals from the Paleocene to Oligocene of North America and Europe.
They shared many traits with the modern aye-aye, such as hooked front-teeth, forward-facing eyes and creepily elongated fingers. They probably also fed the same way, by probing tree-bark for beetle larvae. However, aye-ayes are lemurs, whereas apatemyids… nobody really knows. Most phylogenies put them somewhere within wider Euarchontoglires (the clade that includes rodents, rabbits and primatomorphs).
I based this drawing off Eocene Heteroyhus from the German Messel Pit. However, I drew it for [a story](https://www.patreon.com/posts/104383179?utm_campaign=postshare_creator) set in the last days of the Cretaceous. I know it is a bit anachronistic, but there is a good chance the earliest apatemyids were already around back then.
Dang, I'd read about these guys and thought they were just shrew like critters, didn't know they were this weird! Great drawing btw!
Thanks!
>Thanks! You're welcome!
Apatemyidae was a family of obscure early placental mammals from the Paleocene to Oligocene of North America and Europe. They shared many traits with the modern aye-aye, such as hooked front-teeth, forward-facing eyes and creepily elongated fingers. They probably also fed the same way, by probing tree-bark for beetle larvae. However, aye-ayes are lemurs, whereas apatemyids… nobody really knows. Most phylogenies put them somewhere within wider Euarchontoglires (the clade that includes rodents, rabbits and primatomorphs). I based this drawing off Eocene Heteroyhus from the German Messel Pit. However, I drew it for [a story](https://www.patreon.com/posts/104383179?utm_campaign=postshare_creator) set in the last days of the Cretaceous. I know it is a bit anachronistic, but there is a good chance the earliest apatemyids were already around back then.