Parapithecidae

fossil primate family

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Last updated

July 23, 2026

Quick Summary

The family Parapithecidae represents a group of extremely primitive Old World monkeys that lived during the Oligocene Epoch (33.9 to 23 million years ago). Discoveries primarily from Egypt's Fayum region have shed light on these early primates.12

Genera within this family, such as Parapithecus, Apidium, and Qatrania, are considered by some to be ancestral to the platyrrhines (New World monkeys). The Fayum deposits suggest that by this time, catarrhines (Old World monkeys and apes) and platyrrhines had diverged, though the two modern groups of catarrhines had not yet separated. The fossil evidence indicates a shift towards quadrupedalism as the typical mode of locomotion.2

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primate
Oligocene
…some authors consider the family Parapithecidae (containing Parapithecus, Apidium, and Qatrania) to be closer to the platyrrhines. The other genera represent structural common ancestors of the Catarrhini, which indicates that the catarrhines and platyrrhines had by now become separate, whereas the two modern groups of catarrhines (cercopithecoids and hominoids) had…
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…some authors consider the family Parapithecidae (containing Parapithecus, Apidium, and Qatrania) to be closer to the platyrrhines. The other genera represent structural common ancestors of the Catarrhini, which indicates that the catarrhines and platyrrhines had by now become separate, whereas the two modern groups of catarrhines (cercopithecoids and hominoids) had…
Read More