Egyptian Oligocene

Cranial remains ofparapithecid primates found in Oligocene deposits of the Fayum badlands southwest ofCairo, Egypt, are assigned to two spe-cies of the genus Apidium. A new partial skull confirms reference of an earlier described frontal bone to the genus and species Apidium phiomense. Together these two finds demonstrate that several anthropoidean cranial characteristics had been de-veloped in the African parapithecids by Oligocene times, 34 million years ago. Parapithecoidea may be a sister group to Catarrhini. One partial cra-nium discussed here belongs to a new species de-scribed below