Adapis fossil map
Where fossils of Adapis have been found, shown on the Earth as it looked about 45 million years ago and on today’s map.
Dots are fossil collections recorded in the Paleobiology Database. The “then” view moves today’s fossil sites back to their positions 45 million years ago (the time slice nearest the median age of the fossils) using the Merdith et al. (2021) plate model; positions are approximate. Open on the timeline map →
| Group | Early mammals |
|---|---|
| Lived | 41.03–33.9 million years ago (Bartonian to Priabonian) |
| Periods | Paleogene |
| Family | Adapidae |
| Named by | Cuvier 1822 |
| Fossil records | 46 occurrences at 16 locations (PBDB) |
| Found in | France, Switzerland, Spain, United Kingdom |
| Rock formations | txn:40749, Collegats, Creechbarrow Limestone, Bellmunt, Calcaire de Saint-Ouen, Upper Headon Beds |
About Adapis
Adapis is the type genus of the Adapidae, an extinct family of primates from the Palaeogene within the extinct infraorder Adapiformes. It was endemic to western Europe and lived from the Middle to Late Eocene. Adapis was first named in 1822 by the French palaeontologist Georges Cuvier, who studied incomplete jaws from Montmartre and thought it to have been a "pachyderm" similar to the artiodactyl Anoplotherium. Adapis parisiensis was recognized by Cuvier in 1824; several other species of Adapis were named in the late 19th and 20th centuries. In the 1870s, Adapis was recognized formally as a primate rather than a "pachyderm", with later researchers noting that Adapis was therefore the first fossil primate to have ever been taxonomically described. Palaeolemur and Leptadapis of the subfamily Adapinae, an endemic European primate subfamily, were previously reclassified as synonyms or subgenera of Adapis but were eventually recognized again as distinct genera from Adapis. As a result, there are six total species of Adapis, with A. parisiensis being the type species.
Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Adapis (revision 1374590105), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; introduction excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Ages, family, authority and fossil records: Paleobiology Database, accessed 23 October 2026. Ages are those of the rock layers the fossils were found in. Wikidata: Q2278409.
