Cuboid morphology of a basal anthropoid from the Eocene of China

A small primate cuboid has been recovered from Fissure D at the middle Eocene Shanghuang fissure-fillings in southern Jiangsu Province, China (Beard et al., 1994). In terms of morphology, the IVPP V 12319 cuboid is a rectangular shaped bone with a strong lateral groove for the peroneus longus tendon (Fig. 1). It differs from the cuboids of other common fossil mammals at Shanghuang such as rodents (see Rose and Chinnery, 2004) or lagomorphs (see Meng et al., 2009 or Fostowicz-Frelik et al., 2015) as both these taxa exhibit cuboids with very prominent plantar tuberosities. Further, rodents exhibit proximal and distal cuboid joint surfaces that are non-parallel in their articulations while lagomorph cuboids also show a projecting cuboidectocuneiform facet. None of these cuboid features characterize IVPP V 12319. All rights reserved, Elsevier