Faunal correlation of Wadi Moghara, Egypt: implications for the age of Prohylobates tandyi

Wadi Moghara, Egypt, is an early Miocene fossil locality with a mammalian fauna that includes Prohylobates tandyi, one of the earliest known representatives of the Cercopithecoidea. Faunal correlations were conducted between Moghara, Gebel Zelten (Libya) and a series of East African fossil sites with established radiometric dates in order to estimate the age of the Moghara mammals, including P. tandyi. Results confirm hypotheses proposed in some previous studies that: (1) Moghara is about 18-17 Ma, approximately the same age as the Hiwegi fauna from Rusinga Island (Kenya); (2) Moghara is slightly older than Gebel Zelten (Libya) (17-15 Ma); and (3) the cercopithecoid tooth presently identified as Victoriapithecus sp. from Napak V (ca. 19 Ma) is currently the oldest known record of a fossil Old World monkey, followed by P. tandyi from Moghara (Egypt) (18-17 Ma) and Prohylobates sp. from Buluk (Kenya) (>17.2 Ma), P. simonsi from Gebel Zelten (Libya) (ca. 17-15 Ma), and V. macinnesi from Maboko (Kenya) (ca. 16-14.7 Ma).