Tumgik
#ekwiiyemakius
artbyconnorross · 5 years
Photo
Tumblr media
It's been a day of Native American culture for me. First I visited the art exhibit at the campus museum featuring contemporary Native American art, then I downloaded a dozen Native American mods for Civ 6 (and played for hours as the Cheyenne); now I drew a primate with a Native American name. Ekwiiyemakius walshi was described last year by Amy Atwater; its name honors palaeontologist Stephen Walsh, and "Ekwiiyemak" (behind the clouds) references the Kumeyaay peoples' name for the Cuyamaca region of California. I went with an appearance here that is based off several related omomyids as well as modern tarsiers and other small basal primates. There's nothing more to this taxon than teeth; luckily, mammalian teeth are highly distinctive and are actually worth a scientific name most of the time. And of course, this tiny guy (about 120g, or the size of a lesser bushbaby) is sitting in a ginkgo tree, because I like ginkgoes.
27 notes · View notes