A new species of fossil ape from the Miocene Epoch was recently discovered in Egypt. The species is named Masripithecus moghraensis. The name Masripithecus means “Egyptian ape” from the Arabic word Masri (مصري), meaning “Egyptian”, and the Greek word pithecus (πίθηκος), meaning “ape” or “monkey”. The Arabic spelling of the genus is “مصريبيثيكس”.

The discovery was published today, March 26, in the journal Science in an article titled An Early Miocene ape from the biogeographic crossroads of African and Eurasian Hominoidea. The article’s lead author is Shorouq F. Al-Ashqar with the Mansoura University Vertebrate Paleontology Center in Egypt.

Unfortunately, the article is currently blocked behind a paywall by Science, though Al-Ashqar explains in the abstract that Masripithecus is known from mandibular remains (jaw bones and associated teeth) and dates back to the Early Miocene, some 17-18 million years ago. She explains that her analysis suggests Masripithecus is “closer to crown hominoids than coeval fossil apes from East Africa” - that is to say, that Masripithecus may be more closely related to the living apes (chimps, gorillas, gibbons, orangutans and humans) than other fossil ape species known from East Africa.

Al-Ashqar concluded that the evidence from Masripithecus suggests that ape family may have “originated during the Early Miocene in the underexplored northeastern part of Afro-Arabia, rather than in eastern Africa or Eurasia.”

Digging deeper

Recently (March 29), Al-Ashqar shared an illustration from her paper on social media. The illustration is a map showing Al-Ashqar’s proposed interpretation of the geography of ape evolution. The map features Crown Catarrhini (the last common ancestors of apes and Old World monkeys) evolving in southern Africa about 30.6 million years ago, followed by an arrow that branches to the north, with one branch pointing at Egypt (and _Masripithecus) and another branch into Arabia labeled Crown Hominoidea at 21 million years ago.

A family tree in the graphic places Masripithecus as an outgroup to the lineage that leads to both Hylobatidae (the gibbons) and Hominidae (the great apes). Al-Ashqar’s tree, however, places Masripithecus closer to the gibbons and great apes than other extinct Miocene apes like Oreopithecus.

Last updated on March 29, 2026

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