The oldest known example of an early primate skeleton, the new fossil is crucial for illuminating a pivotal event in primate and human evolution—the evolutionary divergence between the lineage leading to modern monkeys, apes and humans (collectively known as anthropoids) on the one hand and that leading to living tarsiers on the other. The scientific paper describing the discovery appears June 06, 2013  in the prestigious journal Nature.

 

Fig.1 Three-dimensional reconstruction of the type specimen (IVPP V18618) of Archicebus achilles. (Image by NI Xijun)

Fig.2 Reconstruction of Archicebus achilles in its natural habitat of trees. (Image by NI Xijun)