''Nsungwepithecus gunnelli'', the only species of the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

''Nsungwepithecus'', is a fossil

primate Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...

. Known from a single piece of lower jaw preserving the third molar, it is believed to be the member of the

Old World monkey Old World monkeys are primates in the family Cercopithecidae (). Twenty-four genera and 138 species are recognized, making it the largest primate family. Old World monkey genera include baboons (genus '' Papio''), red colobus (genus '' Piliocolob ...

group. It is known from the

Nsungwe Formation The Nsungwe Formation is a formation in the Rukwa Rift Basin of the East African Rift System, it is Oligocene in age based on U-Pb dating of a tuff horizon within the formation. It is part of the Red Sandstone Group along with the uncomfortably ...

of southwestern

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

, which dates to just over 25.2 million years ago. This area has also yielded the early

hominoid Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a Family (biology), superfamily of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and Europe in prehistory, and counting humans ...

'' Rukwapithecus''.

References

Monotypic prehistoric primate genera Oligocene primates Fossil taxa described in 2013 Catarrhini Oligocene mammals of Africa {{paleo-primate-stub