late middle Eocene. Afrotarsius was found in the Dur At-Talah escarpment in Libya, which dates to 38–39 million years ago and also contains the parapithecid Biretia and the oligopithecid Talahpithecus. Although diverse, these primates were all very small in size, much like eosimiids. Simian classification for older fossils from Africa are more contested. Altiatlasius, the oldest suspected fossil primate known from the late Paleocene of Morocco, is too fragmentary to ascertain its true affinities. Algeripithecus was popularly considered an early middle Eocene simian; however, less fragmentary remains uncovered between 2003 and 2009 suggest it was a type of azibiid, a group of strepsirrhine primates likely related to lemuriform primates (lemurs and lorisoids). According to the team who discovered Afrasia, headed by Jean-Jacques Jaeger, the similarities in tooth morphology, body size, and age suggest a phylogenetic relationship with Afrotarsius despite the geographic separation. They suggested that afrotarsiid simians from Asia dispersed across the Tethys Sea to Africa around the middle Eocene, giving rise to Afrotarsius. A reverse migration—as suggested by the hypothesis of the African origin for simians—is not favored due to the close phylogenetic relationship between the older Asian eosimiids and Afrasia. However, to explain the origins of Proteopithecidae, Parapithecidae, and crown simians from the African fossil record, a higher simian clade also needed to disperse from Asia to Africa before the late middle Eocene since neither Afrasia nor Afrotarsius could have given rise to this group. Such dispersals from Asia to Africa were not uncommon, since hystricognathous rodents, anthracotheres, and possibly other mammalian fauna from Asia arrived around the same time. Anatomy Afrasia is known from four isolated teeth: a first upper molar (M1), with a length of 2.13 mm and width of 3.06 mm; a second upper molar (M2), the holotype, of 2.27 mm by 3.35 mm; a second lower molar (m2) of 2.09 mm by 1.41 mm; and a third lower molar (m3) of 2.05 mm by 1.27 mm. Like other eosimiiforms, it was a small primate that weighed around , which is estimated based on the measurements of its m2 and M1, respectively. It is generally similar to other eosimiiforms in general and Afrotarsius in particular; some distinguishing features are the well-developed small cusps (conules) on the upper molars, the variable development of the lingual cingulum (a shelf on the inner, or lingual, side of the tooth) of the upper molars, and the unreduced talonid (posterior