Afrotarsius is a
primate found in the
Paleogene of Africa. The first species to be named,
Afrotarsius chatrathi, was named in 1985 on the basis of a single lower jaw from the
Oligocene of
Fayum, Egypt, and tentatively referred to the
tarsier family (Tarsiidae). However, this relationship immediately proved controversial, and in 1987 the animal was placed in a separate family
Afrotarsiidae related to
simians. A tarsier-like tibiofibula was allocated to
Afrotarsius in 1998, but the identity of this bone is controversial. In 2010, a second species of the genus,
Afrotarsius libycus, was named from the
Eocene of Dur At-Talah, Libya, on the basis of isolated upper and lower teeth. Features of these teeth were interpreted as additional evidence for a relationship between
Afrotarsius and anthropoids. A second afrotarsiid genus,
Afrasia, was named in 2012 from the Eocene Pondaung Formation of Myanmar. In the same paper, Afrotarsiidae was placed together with the Asian
Eosimiidae in an infraorder Eosimiiformes, closely related to
crown-group simians.
