title: Anthropoid versus strepsirhine status of the African Eocene primates Algeripithecus and Azibius: craniodental evidence.
abstract: Recent fossil discoveries have demonstrated that Africa and Asia were epicentres for the origin and/or early diversification of the major living primate lineages, including both anthropoids (monkeys, apes and humans) and crown strepsirhine primates (lemurs, lorises and galagos). Competing hypotheses favouring either an African or Asian origin for anthropoids rank among the most hotly contested issues in paleoprimatology. The Afrocentric model for anthropoid origins rests heavily on the >45 Myr old fossil Algeripithecus minutus from Algeria, which is widely acknowledged to be one of the oldest known anthropoids. However, the phylogenetic position of Algeripithecus with respect to other primates has been tenuous because of the highly fragmentary fossils that have documented this primate until now. Recently recovered and more nearly complete fossils of Algeripithecus and contemporaneous relatives reveal that they are not anthropoids. New data support the idea that Algeripithecus and its sister genus Azibius are the earliest offshoots of an Afro-Arabian strepsirhine clade that embraces extant toothcombed primates and their fossil relatives. Azibius exhibits anatomical evidence for nocturnality. Algeripithecus has a long, thin and forwardly inclined lower canine alveolus, a feature that is entirely compatible with the long and procumbent lower canine included in the toothcomb of crown strepsirhines. These results strengthen an ancient African origin for crown strepsirhines and, in turn, strongly challenge the role of Africa as the ancestral homeland for anthropoids.
authors.affiliation: Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution UMR5554, cc064, Université Montpellier II, place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier cedex 05, France. Rodolphe.Tabuce@univ-montp2.fr
authors.forename: Rodolphe
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tabuce
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Marivaux
authors.forename: Renaud
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lebrun
authors.forename: Mohammed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Adaci
authors.forename: Mustapha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bensalah
authors.forename: Pierre-Henri
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Fabre
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fara
authors.forename: Helder
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gomes Rodrigues
authors.forename: Lionel
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hautier
authors.forename: Jean-Jacques
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Jaeger
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lazzari
authors.forename: Fateh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mebrouk
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Peigné
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sudre
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tafforeau
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Valentin
authors.forename: Mahammed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mahboubi
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa; D000818:Animals; D005580:Fossils; D000882:Haplorhini / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000145:classification; D009811:Odontometry; D010802:Phylogeny; D013045:Species Specificity; D011443:Strepsirhini / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000145:classification; D014070:Tooth / Q000033:anatomy & histology