title: Late middle Eocene epoch of Libya yields earliest known radiation of African anthropoids.
abstract: Reconstructing the early evolutionary history of anthropoid primates is hindered by a lack of consensus on both the timing and biogeography of anthropoid origins. Some prefer an ancient (Cretaceous) origin for anthropoids in Africa or some other Gondwanan landmass, whereas others advocate a more recent (early Cenozoic) origin for anthropoids in Asia, with subsequent dispersal of one or more early anthropoid taxa to Africa. The oldest undoubted African anthropoid primates described so far are three species of the parapithecid Biretia from the late middle Eocene Bir El Ater locality of Algeria and the late Eocene BQ-2 site in the Fayum region of northern Egypt. Here we report the discovery of the oldest known diverse assemblage of African anthropoids from the late middle Eocene Dur At-Talah escarpment in central Libya. The primate assemblage from Dur At-Talah includes diminutive species pertaining to three higher-level anthropoid clades (Afrotarsiidae, Parapithecidae and Oligopithecidae) as well as a small species of the early strepsirhine primate Karanisia. The high taxonomic diversity of anthropoids at Dur At-Talah indicates either a much longer interval of anthropoid evolution in Africa than is currently documented in the fossil record or the nearly synchronous colonization of Africa by multiple anthropoid clades at some time during the middle Eocene epoch.
authors.affiliation: Institut International de Paléoprimatologie et Paléontologie humaine, Évolution et Paléoenvironnements, CNRS UMR 6046, Université de Poitiers, 40 Avenue du Recteur Pineau, 86022 Poitiers, France. jean-jacques.jaeger@univ-poitiers.fr
authors.forename: Jean-Jacques
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Jaeger
authors.forename: K Christopher
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Beard
authors.forename: Yaowalak
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chaimanee
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Salem
authors.forename: Mouloud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Benammi
authors.forename: Osama
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Hlal
authors.forename: Pauline
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Coster
authors.forename: Awad A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Bilal
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Duringer
authors.forename: Mathieu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schuster
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Valentin
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Marandat
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Marivaux
authors.forename: Eddy
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Métais
authors.forename: Omar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Hammuda
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brunet
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004641:Emigration and Immigration / Q000266:history*; D005580:Fossils; D000882:Haplorhini / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D049690:History, Ancient; D008002:Libya; D010802:Phylogeny; D058974:Phylogeography; D014070:Tooth / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000648:ultrastructure