News and Views New eosimiid primate from Myanmar Daniel L. Gebo*, Gregg F. Gunnell†, Russell L. Ciochon‡, Masanaru Takai§, Takehisa Tsubamoto¶ and Naoko Egi Keywords: Eocene, calcaneus, Pondaung Formation, Bahinia, China, Eosimias, Shaunghuang. *Department of Anthropology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115, U.S.A., E-mail: dgebo@niu.edu; †Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1079, U.S.A., E-mail: ggunnell@umich.edu; ‡Department of Anthropology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242-1322, U.S.A., E-mail: russell-ciochon@uiowa.edu; §Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama 484-8506, Japan, E-mail: takai@pri.kyoto-u.ac.jp; ¶Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama 484-8506, Japan, E-mail: tsuba@pri.kyoto-u.ac.jp; Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama 484-8506, Japan, E-mail: egi@pri.kyoto-u.ac.jp  2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. Journal of Human Evolution (2002) 42, 000–000 doi:10.1006/jhev.2002.0571 Available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on In November of 1999, a joint field project conducted by the Myanmar Pondaung Fossil Expedition Team (PFET) and the Primate Research Institute of Kyoto University discovered the first evidence of a new, small eosimiid from Myanmar. Eosimi- ids have previously been found in fissure fillings from Shanghuang (Jiangsu Prov- ince), at several localities within the Yuanqu Basin (Shanxi Province) in China (Beard et al., 1994, 1996), and from the Pondaung Formation in Myanmar (Jaeger et al., 1999). All known eosimiids are middle to late mid- dle Eocene in age (Wang & Dawson, 1992; Beard et al., 1994; MacPhee et al., 1995; Jaeger et al., 1999; Ciochon et al., 2001; Tsubamoto et al., 2002). The new eosimiid specimen, represented by a right calcaneus (NMMP 23), was found in wash residue derived from Paukkaung Locality PK-2 in the Pondaung Formation (Figure 1). Previously, larger taxa (800 g–9 kg, estimated from teeth), including Pondaungia, Amphipithecus, and Myanmarpithecus have been found at this site (Takai et al., 2000, 2001; Ciochon et al., 2001; Gunnell et al., 2002), but this tiny calcaneus is too small to belong to any of these taxa. Bahinia, the smallest primate previously described from Myanmar, was estimated to weigh 400 g by Jaeger et al. (1999) on the basis of M 1 size. These authors noted that Bahinia was much larger than Eosimias from China. Our body size estimate for NMMP 23 (see below) suggests a much smaller primate than Bahinia, and it is on this basis that we recognize NMMP 23 as an eosimiid distinct from Bahinia. Morphologically, NMMP 23 is very simi- lar to calcaneal specimens attributed to Eosimias from Shanghuang (Figure 2, Table 1). NMMP 23 is 7·2 mm in length and 2·9 mm in width. It is broken along the medial edge of the sustentaculum tali and thus would have been wider if this region were preserved. Its overall length falls within the middle size range of Shanghuang calca- neal specimens (Table 1). In terms of overall calcaneal proportions, NMMP 23 has a moderately long distal calcaneal length (0·44, relative to total calcaneal length), a very long posterior calcaneal facet (0·35), and a short heel region (0·21). Although NMMP 23 is longer distally (Table 1), its values compare well with similar calcaneal proportions for Cebuella (0·41, 0·37, and 0. 22, respectively). 0047–2484/02/000000+00$35.00/0  2002 Elsevier Science Ltd