Aegyptopithicus skull from the collection of the DLC’s Division of Fossil Primates.
By Matt Borths, Curator of the Duke Lemur Center’s Division of Fossil Primates.
This Fossil Friday, meet a primate in your own family tree: Aegyptopithecus, whose name means “The Egyptian Monkey.” This 30-million-year-old face would make a great template for a jack o’ lantern! Aegyptopithecus was named by Elwyn Simons — the father of modern primate paleontology and the founder of the Division of Fossil Primates — in 1965. Aegyptopithecus is closely related to the common ancestor of monkeys and apes, and is one of the many important fossils at the Duke Lemur Center that help us understand the relationships among primates — including humans and lemurs!
Visit the Fossil Fridays archive HERE.
