Adapiforms

Adapiforms are a fossil primate lineage that lived during the Paleocene and Eocene epochs (about 56 to 34 million years ago). They were generally small-bodied primates that lived in a wide range of habitats, from woodlands to sandy deserts. Adapiforms were among the earliest primates to be able to form complex visual images and to have evolved opposable thumbs, allowing them to grasp and manipulate objects. Their skeletons also closely resembled those of modern primates, indicating that they may have been the precursors of today's anthropoids. Adapiforms have been important for understanding primate evolution because of their ability to show the possible adaptations that gave rise to modern anthropoid primates.