A new Catarrhine primate fossil discovered in Saudi Arabia suggests the evolutionary spilt between Old World monkeys and humans occurred older than previously thought, around 29 million years ago. The discovery challenges the theory that the groups diverged around 5 million years earlier than the date of the recent fossil find.
This is "the first substantial fossil primate from Arabia and from a period of between 30 and 23 million years ago where almost all the primate fossil record from this period is very rare, and if any is found, it is not as complete as this discovery," said Iyad Zalmout, the lead researcher with the University of Michigan.
