Parapithecidae is an now extinct family of primates which lived in the Eocene and Oligocene periods in Egypt. Eocene fossils from Myanmar are sometimes included in the family in addition. They showed certain similarities in dentition to Condylarthra, but had short faces and jaws shaped like those of tarsiers. They are part of the superfamily Parapithecoidea, perhaps equally related to Ceboidea and Cercopithecoidea plus Hominoidea - but the placement of Parapithecoidea is substantially uncertain.
The most commonly found fossil species of parapithecid is Apidium phiomense, found like many of the species in the Jebel Qatrani Formation in Egypt. It appears to have been arboreal, diurnal and frugivorous and lived in social groups, and its postcranial skeleton is similar to that of extant species of pronograde leapers, indicating its likely form of locomotion.[1]
Fossil evidence presented in 2020 suggests a parapithecid rafted across the Atlantic in the Paleogene and at least briefly colonized South America. Ucayalipithecus remains dating from the Early Oligocene of Amazonian Peru are deeply nested within the Parapithecidae, and have dental features markedly different from those of platyrrhines. Qatrania wingi of lower Oligocene Fayum deposits is considered the closest known relative of Ucayalipithecus.[2] The absence of later finds from this group in South America indicates they were outcompeted by platyrrhines, which descend from a parallel anthropoid colonization of South America.
^Seiffert, Erik & Simons, Elwyn & Fleagle, John & Godinot, Marc. (2010). Paleogene Anthropoids. pages 369-392. In 'Cenozoic Mammals of Africa' (editors Lars Wardelin and William Sanders) University of California Press 6 August 2010 ISBN 978-0520257214
^Seiffert, E.R.; Tejedor, M.F.; Fleagle, J.G.; Novo, N.M.; Cornejo, F.M.; Bond, M.; de Vries, D.; Campbell, K.E. (2020). "A parapithecid stem anthropoid of African origin in the Paleogene of South America". Science. 368 (6487): 194–197. Bibcode:2020Sci...368..194S. doi:10.1126/science.aba1135. PMID 32273470. S2CID 215550773.
Parapithecidae is an now extinct family of primates which lived in the Eocene and Oligocene periods in Egypt. Eocene fossils from Myanmar are sometimes...
some classifications all Parapithecoidea are placed within the family Parapithecidae. Seiffert et al. (2010) propose that Parapithecoidea arose during the...
apes, catarrhines and related contemporary extinct groups, such as Parapithecidae, are monkeys as well, for any consistent definition of "monkey". "Old...
Maglio, Vincent J.; Cooke, H. B. S. (eds.), "VII: Cercopithecidae and Parapithecidae", Evolution of African Mammals, Harvard University Press, pp. 100–119...
that Simons, the discoverer of Serapia originally placed it within the Parapithecidae, but in 2001 transferred Serapia to the Proteopithecidae, a view supported...
apes, catarrhines and related contemporary extinct groups such as Parapithecidae are monkeys as well, for any consistent definition of "monkey". "Old...
phiomense are fairly common. Apidium and its fellow members of the Parapithecidae family are stem anthropoids that possess all the hallmarks of modern...
apes, catarrhines and related contemporary extinct groups such as Parapithecidae are monkeys as well, for any consistent definition of "monkey". "Old...
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