Oligocene primates

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. It likely resembled modern-day New World monkeys, and was about the same size as a modern howler monkey, which is about long. Aegyptopithecus fossils have been found in the Jebel Qatrani Formation of modern-day Egypt. Aegyptopithecus is believed to b

Omomyidae is a group of early primates that radiated during the Eocene epoch between about (mya). Fossil omomyids are found in North America, Europe & Asia, making it one of two groups of Eocene primates with a geographic distribution spanning holarctic continents, the other being the adapids (family Adapidae). Early representatives of the Omomyidae and Adapidae appear suddenly at the beginning of the Eocene (56 mya) in North America, Europe, and Asia, and are the earliest known crown primates.

The genus Apidium (from Latin, a diminutive of the Egyptian bull god, Apis, as the first fossils were thought to be from a type of a cow) is that of at least three extinct primates living in the early Oligocene, from 30 to 28 million years ago. Apidium fossils are common in the Fayoum deposits of Egypt. Fossils of the earlier species, Apidium moustafai, are rare; fossils of the later species Apidium phiomense are fairly common.

Propliopithecus is an extinct genus of primate.

Parapithecus is an extinct genus of primate that lived during the Late Eocene-Earliest Oligocene in what is now Egypt. Its members are considered to be basal anthropoids and the genus is closely related to Apidium. There are two known species. They lived about 40 to 33 million years ago.

Eosimiidae is the possible family of extinct primates believed to be the earliest simians.

Saadanius is a genus of fossil primates dating to the Oligocene that is closely related to the common ancestor of the Old World monkeys and apes, collectively known as catarrhines. It is represented by a single species, Saadanius hijazensis, which is known only from a single partial skull tentatively dated between 29 and 28 million years ago. It was discovered in 2009 in western Saudi Arabia near Mecca and was first described in 2010 after comparison with both living and fossil catarrhines.

Kamoyapithecus ('Kamoya' + Greek - “ape”) was a primate that lived in Africa during the late Oligocene period, about 27.5-24.2 million years ago. First found in 1948 as part of a University of California, Berkeley expedition, it was at first thought to be under a form of Proconsul by C.T. Madden in 1980, but after a re-examination by Meave Leakey and associates later, the fossils were moved under a new genus Kamoyapithecus, named after the renowned fossil finder Kamoya Kimeu. The genus is represented by only one species, K. hamiltoni.

Oligopithecus is a fossil primate that lived in Africa during the Early Oligocene. It is represented by one species, Oligopithecus savagei, known from one jaw bone found in Egypt.

Rukwapithecus fleaglei, the only species of the genus Rukwapithecus, is a fossil primate. Known from a single lower jaw preserving four teeth, it is interpreted as the earliest hominoid, a member of the group that includes gibbons, humans, and other apes. It is known from the Nsungwe Formation of south-western Tanzania, which dates to just over 25.2 million years ago. This area has also yielded the early Old World monkey Nsungwepithecus. Phylogenetic analysis places it within the group Nyanzapithecinae, related to Rangwapithecus and Nyanzapithecus.

Afrotarsius is a primate found in the Paleogene of Africa. left|thumb|Afrasia from Asia and Afrotarsius from Africa exhibit similar morphology of their teeth and lived in the late middle Eocene, suggesting Stem group|stem simians dispersed from Asia to Africa around that time.|alt=Two molars, one of Afrotarsius (left) and one of Afrasia (right), are compared, with an Eocene map of the globe showing where each came from. In the lower left, a life reconstruction of Afrotarsius is shown. The first species to be named, Afrotarsius chatrathi, was named in 1985 on the basis of a single lower jaw fro