A new species of Apterodon (Mammalia, Creodonta) from the Upper Eocene Qasr el-Sagha Formation of Egypt

Authors

Elwyn L. Simons, Peabody Museum of Natural History and Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520
Philip D. Gingerich, Museum of Paleontology, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109

Publication Date

4-15-1976

Series Number

168

Abstract

The mandible of a medium-sized carnivore discovered by a recent Yale paleontological expedition to the Fayum Province of Egypt represents a new species of the creodont Apterodon. The type and only specimen of this new species, Apterodon saghensis, comes from the Upper Eocene Qasr el-Sagha Formation and thus represents the earliest terrestrial carnivore yet described from the African continent. Unfortunately the specimen contributes little to our understanding of the origin and relationships of Apterodon.