Discover Magazine
The fossil belongs to a newly identified species, Masripithecus moghraensis, which lived about 17 to 18 million years ago during the Early Miocene. Described in Science,

the fossil was found at Wadi Moghra and is the first definitive ape from North Africa from this time period — pointing to Egypt, and possibly the wider North Africa–Middle East region, as a key region in the origin of living apes, helping fill a gap in the early history of crown Hominoidea, the group that includes all living apes and their last common ancestor.

“We spent five years searching for this kind of fossil because, when we look closely at the early ape family tree, it becomes clear that something is missing — and North Africa holds that missing piece,” said senior author Hesham Sallam in a press release.