Simons E L
Department of Biological Anthropology and Anatomy, Duke University, Durham, NC.
Science. 1990 Mar 30;247(4950):1567-9. doi: 10.1126/science.2108499.
A group of primate fossils newly discovered in the Fayum badlands of Egypt is probably of Eocene age. The site is much older than the localities of previously known Egyptian early Tertiary primates. These finds include a crushed cranium that is the oldest skull found to date of a higher primate. This skull shows four characteristics of higher primates: a catarrhine dental formula, an ectotympanic at the rim of the auditory bulla, a fused frontal bone, and postorbital closure. Details of tooth structure (premolars and molars) and a possibly unfused mandibular symphysis resemble these parts in certain Eocene prosimians.
在埃及法尤姆荒原新发现的一组灵长类化石可能属于始新世时期。该遗址比之前已知的埃及早第三纪灵长类动物的产地要古老得多。这些发现包括一个破碎的颅骨，这是迄今为止发现的最古老的高等灵长类动物头骨。这个头骨显示出高等灵长类动物的四个特征：狭鼻猴类的齿式、听泡边缘的外耳道骨、额骨融合以及眶后闭合。牙齿结构（前磨牙和磨牙）的细节以及可能未融合的下颌联合与某些始新世原猴亚目的这些部位相似。
