Aegyptopithecus

American  

[ih-jip-toh-pith-i-kuhs, -puh-thee-kuhs] / ɪˌdʒɪp toʊˈpɪθ ɪ kəs, -pəˈθi kəs /

noun

1. a presumed genus of extinct primate, known from remains of a single species, A. zeuxis, 33–35 million years old and thought to have resembled modern New World monkeys: most fossils originate in Egypt, the first having been discovered in central Egypt in 1965.

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Etymology

Origin of Aegyptopithecus

First recorded in 1960–65; from New Latin, equivalent to Latin Aegypt(us) “Egypt” + New Latin -o- + pithēcus “ape,” from Greek píthēkos; -o- ( def. )

Example Sentences

As Exhibit A, Duke University Anthropologist Elwyn Simons offered fossils, found near Cairo, of a tree-dwelling primate 30 million years old; Simons christened the creature Aegyptopithecus.

From Time Magazine Archive

Judging from examination of its eye sockets, Aegyptopithecus, unlike some of its rivals, was a diurnal creature, one that was active mostly in daylight.

From Time Magazine Archive

They could thus emerge as an earlier common ancestor than Aegyptopithecus of both apes and monkeys, and as a link back to such lower primates as lemurs and tarsiers.

From Time Magazine Archive

This implies that Aegyptopithecus lived in groups, rather than by itself as do many nocturnal animals.

From Time Magazine Archive