''Amphipithecus mogaungensis'' ("ape-like creature of Mogaung", derived from the Ancient Greek , ' meaning "around" and ', ' meaning "ape") was a primate that lived in Late Eocene

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

. Along with another primate '' Pondaungia cotteri'', both are difficult to categorise within the order Primates. What little is known suggests that they are neither

adapiform Adapiformes is a group of early primates. Adapiforms radiated throughout much of the northern continental mass (now Europe, Asia and North America), reaching as far south as northern Africa and tropical Asia. They existed from the Eocene to the M ...

nor

omomyid Omomyidae is a group of early primates that radiated during the Eocene epoch between about (mya). Fossil omomyids are found in North America, Europe & Asia making it one of two groups of Eocene primates with a geographic distribution spanning h ...

primates, two of the earliest primate groups to appear in the fossil record. Deep mandibles and mandibular molars with low, broad crowns suggest they are both

simian The simians, anthropoids, or higher primates are an infraorder (Simiiformes ) of primates containing all animals traditionally called monkeys and apes. More precisely, they consist of the parvorders New World monkeys (Platyrrhini) and Catarrhi ...

s, a group that includes monkeys, apes, and humans, though more material is needed for further comparison. The teeth also suggest that these were

frugivore A frugivore is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts and seeds. Approximately 20% of mammalian herbivores eat fruit. Frugivores are highly dependent on the abundance an ...

primates, with a body mass of .

Discovery

In early 1923, notable fossil prospector,

Barnum Brown Barnum Brown (February 12, 1873 – February 5, 1963), commonly referred to as Mr. Bones, was an American paleontologist. Named after the circus showman P. T. Barnum, he discovered the first documented remains of ''Tyrannosaurus'' during a career ...

(famed for discovering the first '' Tyrannosaurus rex'' skeleton) traveled with his wife Lilian Brown to Yangon, the capital of

. Brown focused his fossil prospecting along areas of Pondaung Sandstone. In the outskirts of Mogaung town, he identified a mandible with three teeth (right). He did not recognise the significance of his find until 14 years later, when

Edwin H. Colbert Edwin Harris "Ned" Colbert (September 28, 1905 – November 15, 2001)O'Connor, Anahad ''The New York Times'', November 25, 2001. was a distinguished American vertebrate paleontologist and prolific researcher and author. Born in Clarinda, Iowa, he ...

identified the fossil as a new species of primate and the earliest known anthropoid in the world.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q20312785 Eocene mammals Prehistoric apes Eocene mammals of Asia Fossil taxa described in 1937 Fossils of Myanmar