Post #1779036

2026-04-01 08:37 UTC

@albertcardona Have you seen the astonishing recent Science paper about Masripithecus, the Egyptian ape from Wadi Natron (or somewhere like that). Absolutely jaw-dropping. Yet another missing link. Raymond Dart must be wetting himself in the grave.

Replies (1)

@albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz 2026-04-01 08:56

@sellathechemist I haven't but, thank you! I have just looked it up: "This new evidence suggests that northern Africa and the Middle East might have been more central to the origin of the living apes than were more southern parts of Africa" https://nhm.org/stories/meet-masripithecus-newly-described-ancient-ape-fills-gap-evolutionary-history-primates The paper: "An Early Miocene ape from the biogeographic crossroads of African and Eurasian Hominoidea" Al-Ashqar et al. 2026 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adz4102 There's also a perspective/commentary: "The dawn of modern apes", Alba & Arias-Martorell 2026 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aeg3100 Masripithecus moghraensis (“Egyptian ape from Moghra”) #hominids #Masripithecus #evolution

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