Heterohyus is an extinct genus of apatemyid from the early to late Eocene. A small, tree-dwelling creature with elongated fore- and middle fingers, in these regards it somewhat resembled a modern-day aye-aye.
Three skeletons have been found at the early Eocene site at Messel Pit, Germany[1]
| Heterohyus Temporal range: early to late Eocene | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Heterohyus fossil from Messel Pit, at the Naturkundemuseum, Karlsruhe, Germany | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | †Apatotheria |
| Family: | †Apatemyidae |
| Genus: | †Heterohyus Gervais, 1848 |
| Type species | |
| †Heterohyus nanus | |
References
Bibliography
- McKenna, Malcolm C., and Bell, Susan K. 1997. Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level. Columbia University Press, New York, 631 pp. ISBN 0-231-11013-8
- Morlo, Michael et al. An annotated taxonomic list of the Middle Eocene (MP11) Vertebratae of Messel gives as author: Teilhard de Chardin, 1921 - please refer to footnote 88.
- Kenneth David Rose. The Beginning of the Age of Mammals. JHU Press, 2006, ISBN 0-8018-8472-1, ISBN 978-0-8018-8472-6, 428 pp. gives as author: Koenigswald, 1990
- Schaal, Stephan, & Ziegler, Willi (eds) 1992. Messel. An insight into the history of life on Earth. Clarendon Press, Oxford. ISBN 0 19854654 8.
External links
Media related to Heterohyus at Wikimedia Commons