Aegyptopithecus

Aegyptopithecus; Temporal range: Oligocene; ~
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Primates
Suborder:	Haplorhini
Infraorder:	Simiiformes
Superfamily:	†Propliopithecoidea
Family:	†Propliopithecidae
Genus:	†Aegyptopithecus; Simons, 1965
Species:	†A. zeuxis
Binomial name
	†Aegyptopithecus zeuxis; Simons, 1965

Aegyptopithecus ("Egyptian ape", from Greek Αίγυπτος "Egypt" and πίθηκος "ape") is an early fossil catarrhine that predates the divergence between hominoids (apes) and cercopithecids (Old World monkeys). It is known from a single species, Aegyptopithecus zeuxis, which lived around 38-29.5 million years ago in the early part of the Oligocene epoch.^[1] It likely resembled modern-day New World monkeys, and was about the same size as a modern howler monkey, which is about 56 to 92 cm (22 to 36 in) long. Aegyptopithecus fossils have been found in the Jebel Qatrani Formation of modern-day Egypt. Aegyptopithecus is believed to be a stem-catarrhine, a crucial link between Eocene and Miocene fossils.^[2]

Aegyptopithecus zeuxis has become one of the best known extinct primates based on craniodental and postcranial remains.^[2]

^ Seiffert Erik R. (Jan 2006). "Revised age estimates for the later Paleogene mammal faunas of Egypt and Oman". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 103 (13): 5000–5005. Bibcode:2006PNAS..103.5000S. doi:10.1073/pnas.0600689103. PMC 1458784. PMID 16549773.
^ ^a ^b Ankel-Simons, Friderun; John G. Fleagle & Prithijit S. Chatrath (1998). "Femoral Anatomy of Aegyptopithecus zeuxis, An Early Oligocene Anthropoid". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 106 (4): 413–424. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1096-8644(199808)106:4<413::AID-AJPA1>3.0.CO;2-K. PMID 9712474.

[Seiffert-1] Seiffert Erik R. (Jan 2006). "Revised age estimates for the later Paleogene mammal faunas of Egypt and Oman". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 103 (13): 5000–5005. Bibcode:2006PNAS..103.5000S. doi:10.1073/pnas.0600689103. PMC 1458784. PMID 16549773.

[femoral-2] Ankel-Simons, Friderun; John G. Fleagle & Prithijit S. Chatrath (1998). "Femoral Anatomy of Aegyptopithecus zeuxis, An Early Oligocene Anthropoid". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 106 (4): 413–424. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1096-8644(199808)106:4<413::AID-AJPA1>3.0.CO;2-K. PMID 9712474.

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