A new primate species from 35 million years ago discovered in northern Catalonia

Conca de Dalt (CNA).- Researchers at the Catalan Paleontology Institute Miquel Crusafont have discovered a new species of primate in the archeological site of Sossís, near the town of Conca de Dalt, in the Lleida Pyrenees. The primate, that has been named “Nievisia sossiensis”, lived in the Eocen epoch, 35 million years ago. It was a very small primate that weighed between 100 and 150 grams. The research has been published in the international magazine ‘Journal of Human Evolution’ by Judit Marigó, Raef Minwer-Barakat and Salvador Moya-Solà.

The Eocen primates have traditionally been poorly studied. The research carried out by the Catalan Paleontology Institute has discovered the presence of this family of apes in Sant Jaume de Frontanyà (Central Catalonia). The discoveries made in Sant Jaume de Frontanyà and in Sossís have led them to believe that one of the biggest collections of fossil from these primates in all Europe, is in Catalonia.

The discovery of “Nievissia sossiensis” is the last of a series of breakthroughs started in the sixties by the paleontologist Miquel Crusafont. The name of this new specimen has been chosen in honor of Nieves López Martínez, an outstanding paleontologist known for her studies about mammals in the Cretaceus and Cenozoic in the Pyrenees.