Egypt Fossil Ape From 17 Million Years Ago Challenges East Africa Origin Theory
Updated
Updated · ScienceDaily · Jul 24
Egypt Fossil Ape From 17 Million Years Ago Challenges East Africa Origin Theory
1 articles · Updated · ScienceDaily · Jul 24
Summary
Masripithecus moghraensis—a newly identified ape known from a lower jaw found at Wadi Moghra in northern Egypt—lived about 17 to 18 million years ago and provides the first definitive evidence of an ape from North Africa.
Bayesian analyses combining fossil anatomy, DNA from living apes and fossil ages placed Masripithecus closer to living apes than any Early Miocene species yet known from East Africa.
The jaw’s large canines and premolars, rounded molars and robust build suggest a mainly fruit-based but flexible diet, an adaptation researchers link to increasingly seasonal climates in northern Africa and Arabia.
Biogeographic modeling points to northern Africa and the Middle East as a likely cradle and crossroads for crown apes, where shifting sea barriers and plate movements could have opened dispersal routes into Europe and Asia.
The Science study challenges the long-held view that the common ancestor of living apes arose in or around East Africa and suggests more key fossils may still lie in North Africa and the Middle East.
Could a single fragmented jawbone found in Egypt completely rewrite the long-held story of human and ape origins?
If early apes evolved in North Africa, what other missing evolutionary links remain buried under the sands of the Middle East?
How might microscopic structures hidden in ancient ape teeth reveal the exact diet that helped our ancestors survive climate change?
Egypt’s *Masripithecus moghraensis* Fossil Redraws Ape and Human Origins: Challenging the East African Paradigm with a 17-Million-Year-Old Discovery
Overview
The discovery of Masripithecus moghraensis by the Sallam Lab team in northern Egypt marks the first definitive fossil ape found in North Africa and challenges the long-held belief that modern apes and humans originated in East Africa. Advanced Bayesian analysis revealed this species is more closely related to living apes than any known Early Miocene species from East Africa, supporting the idea that modern apes may have originated in northern Afro-Arabia or the eastern Mediterranean. This find bridges a crucial gap between African and Eurasian fossil records, sparks debate among experts, and drives renewed fieldwork in the harsh, fossil-rich deserts of North Africa and the Middle East.