Basal Anthropoids from Egypt and the Antiquity of Africa's Higher Primate Radiation

doi:10.1126/science.1116569

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Basal Anthropoids from Egypt and the Antiquity of Africa's Higher Primate Radiation

Erik R. Seiffert,¹^* Elwyn L. Simons,² William C. Clyde,³ James B. Rossie,⁴ Yousry Attia,⁵ Thomas M. Bown,⁶ Prithijit Chatrath,² Mark E. Mathison⁷

Early anthropoid evolution in Afro-Arabia is poorly documented,with only a few isolated teeth known from before $~$ 35 millionyears ago. Here we describe craniodental remains of the primitiveanthropoid Biretia from $~$ 37-million-year-old rocks in Egypt.Biretia is unique among early anthropoids in exhibiting evidencefor nocturnality, but derived dental features shared with youngerparapithecids draw this genus, and possibly >45-million-year-oldAlgeripithecus, into a morphologically and behaviorally diverseparapithecoid clade of great antiquity.

¹ Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, and Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PW, UK.
² Department of Biological Anthropology and Anatomy, Duke University, and Division of Fossil Primates, Duke Primate Center, 1013 Broad Street, Durham, NC 27705, USA.
³ Department of Earth Sciences, University of New Hampshire, 56 College Road, Durham, NH 03824, USA.
⁴ Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA.
⁵ Egyptian Geological Museum, Misr el Kadima, Ethar el Nabi, Cairo, Egypt.
⁶ Erathem-Vanir Geological, 2300 Arapahoe Avenue, no. 236, Boulder, CO 80302, USA.
⁷ Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA.

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: erik.seiffert{at}earth.ox.ac.uk

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