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Science 14 October 2005:
Vol. 310. no. 5746, pp. 300 - 304
DOI: 10.1126/science.1116569
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Reports

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 million years ago. Here we describe craniodental remains of the primitive anthropoid Biretia from ~37-million-year-old rocks in Egypt. Biretia is unique among early anthropoids in exhibiting evidence for nocturnality, but derived dental features shared with younger parapithecids draw this genus, and possibly >45-million-year-old Algeripithecus, into a morphologically and behaviorally diverse parapithecoid 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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