Creepy Smiles

© Xijun Ni

The creepy smile of Archicebus achilles in this restoration is a little odd, though if I grabbed an insect that size for dinner as a rather small primate I would be just as happy as Archicebus appears to be. The rather large toes of the hindlimb in the reconstruction are true to those of the fossil remains as well. The nearly opposable thumbs on the forelimb are obviously useful for grasping insects like this rather large piece of dinner. The only thing that has not been alluded to with the fossil used as a model for the illustration is the potential ability of the tail to be used in a prehensile manner. The illustration does appear rather tarsier-like, which is a good thing as the animal is hypothesized to have been a member of the tree living between tarsier and monkey families.