Scientists have described a new early ape species, Masripithecus moghraensis, from jaw and tooth fragments unearthed in Egypt's Moghra region, dated to roughly 17 million years ago in the early Miocene. The peer-reviewed study (published in Communications Biology, not a preprint) relies on comparative anatomy and phylogenetic analysis of dental features such as cusp patterns, enamel thickness, and jaw shape to position this species as a potential last common ancestor of all crown hominoids — the group that includes gibbons, great apes, and humans.

Methodology involved high-resolution CT scanning of the small collection of specimens, followed by cladistic analysis comparing them to fossils such as Proconsul, Afropithecus, and Eurasian Miocene apes. Sample size is extremely limited: only four jaw fragments and a dozen isolated teeth representing an estimated two to three individuals. Researchers acknowledge the primary limitation is the absence of limb bones or skulls, making it impossible to reconstruct locomotion, brain size, or overall body plan. Dental traits can also evolve convergently due to similar diets, reducing certainty in the proposed placement.

The original New Scientist piece emphasizes the 'closest ancestor' claim but underplays ongoing phylogenetic debates and misses key context from related work. A 2022 Nature paper on Morotopithecus bishopi (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04709-1) from Uganda showed that early apes had already evolved suspensory locomotion by 21 million years ago, suggesting complex traits appeared earlier in Africa than many models assumed. Similarly, a 2019 Science review on Miocene ape biogeography (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aax0900) highlighted repeated Africa-Eurasia migrations, challenging the idea that the hominoid cradle was Eurasian. Coverage also glossed over how this find contradicts older hypotheses favoring Asian origins based on Sivapithecus-like fossils.

Taken together, these sources reveal a pattern: Africa's role in hominoid origins has been consistently underestimated. If Masripithecus is correctly placed near the base of the ape radiation, it implies the gibbon-great ape split occurred in Africa before several lineages dispersed northward. This has direct implications for calibrating molecular clocks used to date the human-chimpanzee divergence, potentially pushing estimates further back and requiring revision of genetic models. The discovery fits a broader trend of new African Miocene fossils forcing paleontologists to redraw the primate family tree, underscoring that fragmentary evidence often leads to premature conclusions that later finds overturn.