View source for Apidium

{{Short description|Extinct genus of mammals}}
{{Automatic Taxobox
| taxon = Apidium
| image = Apidium phiomense 05.png
| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|30|28}} Early [[Oligocene]] ([[Rupelian]])
| authority = [[Henry Fairfield Osborn|Osborn]], 1908
| subdivision_ranks = [[Paleospecies]]
| subdivision = †''Apidium phiomense''<br>†''Apidium moustafai''<br>†''Apidium bowni''<br>†''Apidium zuetina''
}}

The [[genus]] '''''Apidium''''' (from Latin, a diminutive of the Egyptian bull god, [[Apis (god)|Apis]], as the first fossils were thought to be from a type of a cow) is that of at least three extinct [[primate]]s living in the early [[Oligocene]],  from 30 to 28 million years ago. ''Apidium'' fossils are common in the [[Fayum|Fayoum]] deposits of [[Egypt]]. Fossils of the earlier species, ''Apidium moustafai'', are rare; fossils of the later species ''Apidium phiomense'' are fairly common.

''Apidium'' and its fellow members of the [[Parapithecidae]] family are stem anthropoids that possess  all the hallmarks of modern [[Anthropoidea]].<ref>{{cite journal | author = Fleagle J., Kay R.F. | year = 1987 | title = The phyletic position of the Parapithecidae | journal = Journal of Human Evolution | volume = 16 | issue = 6| pages = 483–532 | doi=10.1016/0047-2484(87)90036-4}}</ref> Their ancestry is closely tied to the Eocene Asian group [[Eosimiidae]].<ref>Kay R.F., Williams B.A., Ross C.F., Takai M., Shigehara N., 2004. Anthropoid origins: a phylogenetic analysis. In: Ross C.F., Kay R.F. (Eds) Anthropoid Origins: New Visions. Kluwer/Plenum, New York, pp. 91-135</ref>

==Age==

''Apidium'' fossils were originally thought to be between 35.4 and 33.3 million years old, based on initial analysis of the [[Jebel Qatrani Formation]] in which they were found. However, analysis by [[Erik Seiffert]] in 2006 concluded that the age of the [[Jebel Qatrani Formation]] should be revised. His assessment of more recent evidence indicates an age of between 30.2 and 29.5 million years ago, wholly within the [[Rupelian]] (early [[Oligocene]]) [[epoch (geology)|epoch]].<ref name="Seiffert">{{cite journal |author=Seiffert Erik R. |title=Revised age estimates for the later Paleogene mammal faunas of Egypt and Oman|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=103 |issue=13 |pages=5000–5005 |date=Jan 2006 | doi=10.1073/pnas.0600689103 |pmc=1458784 |pmid=16549773|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==Behaviour==

The ''Apidium'' species were well adapted to life in what once were the tropical forests of North Africa. They lived in trees and apparently moved on top of tree limbs by a combination of quadrupedalism and leaping, much as do living squirrel monkeys of the genus ''Saimiri''.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Kay R.F., Simons E.L. | year = 1980 | title = The ecology of Oligocene African Anthropoidea | journal = International Journal of Primatology | volume = 1 | pages = 21–37 | doi=10.1007/bf02692256| s2cid = 23927951 }}</ref> These primates appear to have been frugivorous and diurnal, with keen eyesight.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Bush E.C., Simons E.L., Allman J. | year = 2004 | title = High-resolution computed tomography study of the cranium of a fossil anthropoid primate, Parapithecus grangeri: New insights into the evolutionary history of primate sensory systems | journal = Anatomical Record Part A | volume = 281A | issue = 1| pages = 1083–1087 | doi=10.1002/ar.a.20113| pmid = 15470668 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

Male ''Apidium'' were bigger than the females, which, by comparing them with living primates, suggests that they probably lived in groups, where a small number of males would have had control over several females. The males had large canine teeth.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Fleagle J.G., Kay R.F., Simons E.L. | year = 1980 | title = Sexual dimorphism in early anthropoids | journal = Nature | volume = 287 | issue = 5780| pages = 328–330 | doi=10.1038/287328a0| pmid = 6999362 | s2cid = 438852 }}</ref>

The tooth chipping patterns in ''Apidium phiomense'' indicate a predominantly soft fruit diet.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Towle |first1=I. |last2=Borths |first2=M. R. |last3=Loch |first3=C. |year=2023 |title=Tooth chipping patterns and dental caries suggest a soft fruit diet in early anthropoids |journal=American Journal of Biological Anthropology |doi=10.1002/ajpa.24884 |pmid=38093580 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060429213138/http://www.fmnh.helsinki.fi/users/haaramo/metazoa/deuterostoma/chordata/Synapsida/Eutheria/Primates/Parapithecoidea/Parapithecidae.htm Mikko's Phylogeny archive]
*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/441.shtml BBC's Nature Fact Files]
*[http://members.tripod.com/cacajao/apidium_phiomense.html Scientific classification of Apidium phiomense]
*[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/29652/Apidium Britannica Encyclopedia]
*[https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=100576 Paleobiology Database ]

{{Portal|Paleontology}}
{{Haplorhini|S.}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q773484}}

[[Category:Eocene primates]]
[[Category:Oligocene primates]]
[[Category:Priabonian genus first appearances]]
[[Category:Rupelian genus extinctions]]
[[Category:Eocene mammals of Africa]]
[[Category:Oligocene mammals of Africa]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Henry Fairfield Osborn]]
[[Category:Fossil taxa described in 1908]]