Overview
- A peer‑reviewed Science study describes a 17–18 million‑year‑old primate, Masripithecus moghraensis, from a lower‑jaw fragment found at Wadi Moghra in northern Egypt.
- The fossil is reported as the first simian remains from northern Africa, filling a gap in a region that had only yielded early Miocene monkeys.
- Using Bayesian tip‑dating that combined 268 anatomical traits with more than 59,000 DNA bases, the team placed Masripithecus near the base of the modern hominoid family tree.
- The analysis points to northeast Afro‑Arabia as a plausible cradle for early great apes and a pathway for later spread into Eurasia as sea barriers eased in the Miocene.
- Researchers urge caution because the case rests on a single mandible and call for new digs beyond East Africa, including Wadi Moghra, to test its proposed relationships and lifestyle clues.