De l’origine des anthropoïdes à l’émergence de la famille humaine

The human lineage has a very ancient origin, as most of the mammals. Its oldest representatives, anthropoid primates, have been described from Asia some 45 million years ago. During this long evolutionary story, two critical stages have appeared as especially important, their beginning in Asia and the emergence of hominids in Africa, some seven million years ago. These two stages are discussed hereby with new data relative to their Asian origins and their dispersal into Africa between 45 and 40 million years ago. Following this dispersal event, these primates evolved in Africa and gave rise to the early hominids. These appeared around seven million years ago and have three distinct representatives. Among them, Toumaï appears as the oldest and the closest to our ancestry, a point that is evidenced here.