Palaeohodites

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Palaeohodites is an extinct primate genus from the Eocene of China. It belongs to adapiforms, an early group related to lemurs and lorises, and is placed in the family Ekgmowechashalidae. Today it is known from one species, Palaeohodites naduensis.

Where and when
Palaeohodites lived about 35 million years ago in the Nadu Formation of the Baise Basin, Guangxi, southern China, near the Eocene–Oligocene boundary. It is the sister group to Ekgmowechashala, the last known North American primate before humans arrived much later.

Classification and relatives
The family Ekgmowechashalidae has two subfamilies: Bugtilemurinae (Bugtilemur and Muangthanhinius) and Ekgmowechashalinae (Palaeohodites and Ekgmowechashala). Gatanthropus has been placed in this group as well, but its exact position is unclear.

Fossils and what we know from them
Only a few jaw fragments of Palaeohodites have been found, so its full anatomy isn’t known. Teeth provide most of the information about its appearance and biology.

Teeth and what they reveal
Palaeohodites shares many dental features with Ekgmowechashala. Both have double-rooted lower second premolars (P2) and similar upper molars. In Palaeohodites, the P2 and P3 teeth are longer and narrower, and the roots are slightly more widely spaced. The upper molars have a duplicated protocone cusp on M2, a key link to Ekgmowechashala. Lower molars show neomorphic cusps, and a prominent cusp on the lower first molar. The enamel is finely crenulated, consistent with eating hard foods like nuts and seeds.

Diet and habitat
Based on the teeth, Palaeohodites was herbivorous, likely eating hard objects. It lived in a subtropical forest with evergreen and deciduous trees, offering abundant arboreal habitat and food.

Evolutionary significance
These features support the idea that Ekgmowechalinae originated in Asia. Palaeohodites suggests that Ekgmowechala may have arrived from southern Asia, helping explain regional differences in primate evolution during the late Eocene. The global cooling at the Eocene–Oligocene boundary affected many adapiforms elsewhere, but this Asian lineage may have persisted in warmer southern regions.

Discovery note
Palaeohodites was first described in the 1990s, but only a few jaw fragments are known, leaving many details of its anatomy unknown.