The first Asian plesiadapoids (Mammalia: Primatomorpha)

Two new genera and species of carpolestid plesiadapoids are described from early Eocene coal beds of the Wutu Formation, Wutu Basin, Shandong Province, People's Republic of China. Chronolestes simul, n. gen. and sp., possesses a reduced P 3 and hypertrophied P 4 as do all carpolestids, but contrasts with other members of this family in lacking a bladelike, polycuspidate P 4 . P 3-4 of Chronolestes are structurally simpler, and almost certainly more primitive, than those of any other plesiadapoid. Chronolestes is interpreted as the sister group of all other carpolestids and forms the basis for the new, monotypic subfamily Chronolestinae. Carpocristes oriens, n. gen. and sp., is a dentally derived carpolestine characterized by triple median crests on P 3 4 and an S-shaped blade on P 4 . The closely related North American species " Carpodaptes " hobackensis and " Carpodaptes " cygneus are transferred here to the new genus Carpocristes. Relationships among species of Carpocristes are reconstructed as (C. cygneus (C. hobackensis, C. oriens)). Potential dental synapomorphies for Plesiadapoidea, including Plesiadapidae, Saxonellidae, and Carpolestidae, are identified for the first time. Within Plesiadapoidea, available evidence weakly supports the monophyly of a Plesiadapidae + Saxonellidae clade. Altanius orlovi from the early Eocene of Mongolia is unlikely to be either a plesiadapoid or a basal carpolestid.