The primitive dental formula of the Carpolestidae (Plesiadapiformes, Mammalia) and its phylogenetic implications

New evidence from Elphidotarsius and Carpodaptes indicates that the primitive dental formula for Carpolestidae is I3/3, Cl/1, P4/3, M3/3, not I2/2, Cl/1, P3/3, M3/3, the formula long thought to be primitive for carpolestids and all other plesiadapiforms except Purgatorius; the revised formula differs from that of primitive Tertiary eutherians generally only in the loss of p1. Hence, if Carpolestidae and Plesiadapidae are sister groups, as has traditionally been believed, primitive carpolestids are more primitive than known plesiadapids in the number of incisors and retention of two upper teeth (C and P1) between I3 and P2. Nothing of the dentition or other known parts of the anatomy supports the recent suggestion that carpolestids are dermopterans.