Data from: Fossil lemurs from Egypt and Kenya suggest an African origin for Madagascar’s aye-aye

In 1967 G.G. Simpson described three partial mandibles from early Miocene
deposits in Kenya that he interpreted as belonging to a new strepsirrhine
primate, Propotto. This interpretation was quickly challenged, with the
assertion that Propotto was not a primate, but rather a pteropodid fruit
bat. The latter interpretation has not been questioned for almost half a
century. Here we re-evaluate the affinities of Propotto, drawing upon
diverse lines of evidence to establish that this strange mammal is a
strepsirrhine primate as originally suggested by Simpson. Moreover, our
phylogenetic analyses support the recognition of Propotto, together with
late Eocene Plesiopithecus from Egypt, as African stem chiromyiform lemurs
that are exclusively related to the extant aye-aye (Daubentonia) from
Madagascar. Our results challenge the long-held view that all lemurs are
descended from a single ancient colonization of Madagascar, and present an
intriguing alternative scenario in which two lemur lineages dispersed from
Africa to Madagascar independently, possibly during the later Cenozoic.