Abstract
In 1987 and 1988 fossils of two previously unknown genera and species of Egyptian early Tertiary Anthropoidea were discovered in the Fayum Depression of Egypt. These are much older than all other Fayum, Oligocene primates and are believed to be Eocene in age. These genera, here named Catopithecus and Proteopithecus, come from a new Fayum site, L-41, and resemble Oligopithecus from the Jebel Qatrani Formation (lower sequence) at quarry E. They are here placed with the latter in a subfamily, Oligopithecinae, that is ranked in the Propliopithecidae. The level of L-41 is separated from quarry E by at least one major unconformity and 47 m of section. Only a maxilla of Proteopithecus is known. Its molars and premolars resemble those of later Fayum Propliopithecus and Aegyptopithecus and do not resemble those of Apidium and Parapithecus, all of which come from the Jebel Qatrani Formation, upper sequence. The type specimen of Catopithecus confirms a lower dental formula of 2-1-2-3, as in Catarrhini. These species appear to be the oldest primates undoubtedly related to humans. Their dental anatomy points to a derivation of Anthropoidea from Eocene adapids.
Full text
PDF
Images in this article
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Ciochon R. L., Savage D. E., Tint T., Maw B. Anthropoid origins in Asia? New discovery of amphipithecus from the eocene of burma. Science. 1985 Aug 23;229(4715):756–759. doi: 10.1126/science.229.4715.756. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Fleagle J. G., Bown T. M. New primate fossils from late Oligocene (Colhuehuapian) localities of Chubut Province, Argentina. Folia Primatol (Basel) 1983;41(3-4):240–266. doi: 10.1159/000156135. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Fleagle J. G., Bown T. M., Obradovich J. D., Simons E. L. Age of the earliest african anthropoids. Science. 1986 Dec 5;234(4781):1247–1249. doi: 10.1126/science.234.4781.1247. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Maw B., Ciochon R. L., Savage D. E. Late Eocene of Burma yields earliest anthropoid primate, Pondaungia cotteri. Nature. 1979 Nov 1;282(5734):65–67. doi: 10.1038/282065a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Rasmussen D. T., Simons E. L. New specimens of Oligopithecus savagei, early Oligocene primate from the Fayum, Egypt. Folia Primatol (Basel) 1988;51(4):182–208. doi: 10.1159/000156372. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Simons E. L. Relationships of Amphipithecus and Oligopithecus. Nature. 1971 Aug 13;232(5311):489–491. doi: 10.1038/232489a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]