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The first known primate, Purgatorius, dating back as far as 65 million years ago, is known only from isolated teeth and jaw fragments.) The animal most like Dryomomys today is a wee being called the pen-tailed tree shrew.
They are amongst the oldest known primate group is the Plesiadapiformes, which lived during the Paleocene epoch, around 65 to 55 million years ago. These early primates were small, tree-dwelling mammals that had some features in common with modern primates, but they were not direct ancestors of today's primates.
The main evolutionary trend of primates has been the elaboration of the brain. Comparative studies show a continual trend toward higher intelligence going from prosimians to New World monkeys to Old World monkeys to apes and finally to humans. The part of the brain that has increased the most is the neocortex, which is the part of the brain involved with sensory perception, generation of motor commands, spatial reasoning, and conscious thought. In human primates, the neocortex is also involved with language.
