ABSTRACT
The earliest African record of Anthropoidea comes from deposits of Early Oligocene age in the Fayum Depression, Egypt. This chapter purposes to review the available cranial and dental evidence on ecological specializations of the Fayum anthropoids. Fayum primates come from the Jebel el Qatrani Formation, composed of variegated sands, gravels, and sandstones with interbedded layers of siltstone and claystone. The Fayum primates appear to fall into two natural groups. One group, the Parapithecidae, includes Apidium and Parapithecus. A second, dentally ape-like, group includes Aegyptopithecus and Propliopithecus. Fayum primates were primarily frugivorous. Parapithecus grangeri may have been somewhat more folivorous than the other Fayum primates. There is no evidence that any of the species were primarily insectivorous or primarily folivorous in their diet.
