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April 13, 2022

Fossils from Egypt from key groups in Eocene-Oligocene extinction

Researchers discovered a previously undocumented extinction event that followed the transition between the Eocene and Oligocene periods and affected animals in Africa. Fossils from the Fayum Depression in Egypt from key groups in this extinction include: (upper left) Plesiopithecus, a lemur-like primate; (upper right) Masrasector, a carnivorous hyaenodont; (lower left) Parapithecus, a monkey-like primate; and (lower right) Gaudeamus, a guinea pig-like rodent.

[Research supported by U.S. National Science Foundation grants DBI 1612062, DBI 1458192, BSC 1824745 and DBI 2023087.]

Learn more in the Duke University news story The climate-driven mass extinction no one had seen. (Date image taken: Oct. 6, 2021; date originally posted to NSF Multimedia Gallery: April 13, 2022)

Credit: Matt Borths, Duke Lemur Center, Duke University


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