Aegyptopithecus zeuxis

Aegyptopithecus is an early fossil catarrhine that predates the divergence between hominoids (apes) and cercopithecids. 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. 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 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.

Aegyptopithecus zeuxis

Nobu Tamura ( http://spinops.blogspot.com ) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
AegyptopithecusPBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Primates
Life habit
arborealPBDB, for Aegyptopithecus
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At most 6.6 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 33.9 Mya and 27.3 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Eocene — about 0 of 2 occurrencesOligocene — about 2 of 2 occurrencesOligocene34–34 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences34–34 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences33–33 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences33–33 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences33–33 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences32–32 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences32–32 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences32–32 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences31–31 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences31–31 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences31–31 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences30–30 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences30–30 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences30–30 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences29–29 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences29–29 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences29–29 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–28 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–28 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–28 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–27 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences34.4 Mya26.8 Mya

2 occurrences of Aegyptopithecus zeuxis on record, most of them in the Oligocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

2 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

1 formation

Jebel Qatrani — 29.45°N, 30.58°E

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The named rock units Aegyptopithecus zeuxis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Aegyptopithecus zeuxis and its relatives

Oligocene

Where Aegyptopithecus zeuxis and its relatives were recorded in the Oligocene.

Found in the same rock

43 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 2 sites for Aegyptopithecus zeuxis, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

2 references

Each of the 2 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Aegyptopithecus zeuxis

Credit
Nobu Tamura ( http://spinops.blogspot.com )
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Aegyptopithecus zeuxis · dpc:2803

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAegyptopithecus through timeFormations of the OligoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Simons 1965