Ouranopithecus macedoniensis

Last updated

Ouranopithecus macedoniensis
Temporal range: Miocene
Ouranopithecus macedoniensis.jpg
Ouranopithecus macedoniensis skull in the French National Museum of Natural History, Paris
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Suborder: Haplorhini
Infraorder: Simiiformes
Family: Hominidae
Genus: Ouranopithecus
Species:
O. macedoniensis
Binomial name
Ouranopithecus macedoniensis
Bonis & Melentis, 1977

Ouranopithecus macedoniensis is a prehistoric species of Ouranopithecus from the Late Miocene of Greece. [1] See more detail at Ouranopithecus .

Contents

This species is known from three localities in Northern Greece. The type location is Ravin de la Pluie. The other localities are Chalkidiki and Xirochori. The first specimen of Ouranopithecus macedoniensis with upper deciduous teeth is described from the Ravin de la Pluie locality in Axios Valley. [2]

It is known from a large collection of cranial fossils and few postcranial. The material has been dated to the late Miocene 9.6 – 8.7 million years old, so slightly earlier than O. turkae . [1] To some this suggests O. turkae is the direct descendant of O. macedoniensis, although it is generally accepted that they are sister taxa. [3]

Etymology

The specific epithet macedoniensis is due to the holotype fossil's discovery location in Macedonia, Greece.

Habitat

Examination of dental remains of O. macedoniensis and associated bovid species indicate a habitat of low tree cover and a rich herbaceous layer. [4]

Morphology

O. macedoniensis had a large, broad face with a prominent supraorbital torus. It also had square-shaped orbits. [5] O. macedoniensis may have had a relatively large body size. The postcranial evidence is thin, but the dentition of O. macedoniensis suggests extreme sexual dimorphism, a far higher degree than that seen in any extant great ape. [4] The ape was probably a quadruped. It is not possible to postulate on how O. macedoniensis used the trees but it seems likely that it did. O. macedoniensis's molar enamel cover was fairly thick and had low cusps. The male O. macedoniensis had large canine teeth with shearing lower premolars. [4]

Diet

Based on the heavily pitted surface of the second molar of Ouranopithecus macedoniensis, it is assumed that its diet consisted of harder foods such as nuts or tubers. [4]

Behaviour

Behaviour is very difficult to infer in species with such a small diversity of fossil remains. The large body size may have made climbing difficult in some aspects so it may have been a terrestrial forager but this is speculation within the literature. [1]

Related Research Articles

<i>Orrorin</i> Postulated early hominin discovered in Kenya

Orrorin is an extinct genus of primate within Homininae from the Miocene Lukeino Formation and Pliocene Mabaget Formation, both of Kenya.

<i>Sivapithecus</i> Genus of extinct Asian ape

Sivapithecus is a genus of extinct apes. Fossil remains of animals now assigned to this genus, dated from 12.2 million years old in the Miocene, have been found since the 19th century in the Siwalik Hills of the Indian subcontinent as well as in Kutch. Any one of the species in this genus may have been the ancestor to the modern orangutans.

<i>Dryopithecus</i> Extinct great ape from Europe

Dryopithecus is a genus of extinct great apes from the middle–late Miocene boundary of Europe 12.5 to 11.1 million years ago (mya). Since its discovery in 1856, the genus has been subject to taxonomic turmoil, with numerous new species being described from single remains based on minute differences amongst each other, and the fragmentary nature of the holotype specimen makes differentiating remains difficult. There is currently only one uncontested species, the type species D. fontani, though there may be more. The genus is placed into the tribe Dryopithecini, which is either an offshoot of orangutans, African apes, or is its own separate branch.

<i>Afropithecus</i> Extinct genus of hominoids

Afropithecus is a genus of Miocene hominoid with the sole species Afropithecus turkanensis, it was excavated from a small site near Lake Turkana called Kalodirr in northern Kenya in 1986 and named by Richard Leakey and Meave Leakey. The estimated age of Afropithecus is between 16 and 18 million years old, which was determined with radiometric dating techniques and the geological studies conducted by Broschetto and Brown from the University of Utah. In total there are 46 recovered specimens from Kalodirr relating to Afropithecus consisting of cranial, mandible, dentition and post-cranial remains. The type specimen of Afropithecus turkanensis is KNM-WK 16999.

<i>Ouranopithecus</i> Genus of extinct Eurasian great ape from the Miocene

Ouranopithecus is a genus of extinct Eurasian great ape represented by two species, Ouranopithecus macedoniensis, a late Miocene hominoid from Greece and Ouranopithecus turkae, also from the late Miocene of Turkey.

<i>Amphicyon</i> Extinct genus of carnivores

Amphicyon is an extinct genus of large carnivorans belonging to the family Amphicyonidae, subfamily Amphicyoninae, from the Miocene epoch. Members of this family received their vernacular name for possessing bear-like and dog-like features. They ranged over North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

<i>Nakalipithecus</i> Extinct species of ape

Nakalipithecus nakayamai, sometimes referred to as the Nakali ape, is an extinct species of great ape from Nakali, Kenya, from about 9.9–9.8 million years ago during the Late Miocene. It is known from a right jawbone with 3 molars and from 11 isolated teeth. The jawbone specimen is presumed female as the teeth are similar in size to those of female gorillas and orangutans. Compared to other great apes, the canines are short, the enamel is thin, and the molars are flatter. Nakalipithecus seems to have inhabited a sclerophyllous woodland environment.

<i>Lufengpithecus</i> Extinct genus of primates

Lufengpithecus is an extinct genus of ape, known from the Late Miocene of East Asia. It is known from thousands of dental remains and a few skulls and probably weighed about 50 kg (110 lb). It contains three species: L. lufengensis, L. hudienensis and L. keiyuanensis. Lufengpithecus lufengensis is from the Late Miocene found in China, named after the Lufeng site and dated around 6.2 Ma. Lufengpithecus is either thought to be the sister group to Ponginae, or the sister to the clade containing Ponginae and Homininae.

<i>Samburupithecus</i> Extinct genus of primate from Miocene Kenya

Samburupithecus is an extinct primate that lived in Kenya during the middle to late Miocene. The one species in this genus, Samburupithecus kiptalami, is known only from a maxilla fragment dated to 9.5 million years ago discovered in 1982 and formally described by Ishida & Pickford 1997. The type specimen KNM-SH 8531 was discovered by the Joint Japan-Kenya Expedition at the SH22 fossil site in the Samburu District, a locality where several other researchers found no ape fossils.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hominidae</span> Family of primates

The Hominidae, whose members are known as the great apes or hominids, are a taxonomic family of primates that includes eight extant species in four genera: Pongo ; Gorilla ; Pan ; and Homo, of which only modern humans remain.

<i>Saadanius</i> Extinct genus of primates

Saadanius is a genus of fossil primates dating to the Oligocene that is closely related to the common ancestor of the Old World monkeys and apes, collectively known as catarrhines. It is represented by a single species, Saadanius hijazensis, which is known only from a single partial skull tentatively dated between 29 and 28 million years ago. It was discovered in 2009 in western Saudi Arabia near Mecca and was first described in 2010 after comparison with both living and fossil catarrhines.

<i>Graecopithecus</i> Extinct genus of hominids

Graecopithecus is an extinct genus of hominid that lived in southeast Europe during the late Miocene around 7.2 million years ago. Originally identified by a single lower jaw bone bearing teeth found in Pyrgos Vasilissis, Athens, Greece, in 1944, other teeth were discovered from Azmaka quarry in Bulgaria in 2012. With only little and badly preserved materials to reveal its nature, it is considered as "the most poorly known European Miocene hominoids." The creature was popularly nicknamed 'El Graeco' by scientists.

<i>Hispanopithecus</i> Genus of apes from Miocene Europe

Hispanopithecus is a genus of apes that inhabited Europe during the Miocene epoch. It was first identified in a 1944 paper by J. F. Villalta and M. Crusafont in Notas y Comunicaciones del Instituto Geologico y Minero de España. Anthropologists disagree as to whether Hispanopithecus belongs to the subfamily Ponginae or Homininae.

<i>Choerolophodon</i> Extinct genus of mammals

Choerolophodon is an extinct genus of proboscidean that lived during the Miocene of Eurasia and Africa. Fossils of Choerolophodon have been found in Africa, Southeast Europe, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, the Indian subcontinent, and China.

Ouranopithecus turkae is a prehistoric species of Ouranopithecus from the Late Miocene of Turkey.

<i>Anapithecus</i> Extinct genus of primates

Anapithecus is a late Miocene primate known from fossil locations in Hungary and Austria. Many Anapithecus fossils come from the site of Rudabánya, in northern Hungary, where Anapithecus lived alongside the ape Rudapithecus. The only species in the genus, Anapithecus hernyaki, is named after Gabor Hernyák, chief geologist of the Iron Ore Works of Rudabánya.

<i>Enhydriodon</i> Extinct genus of carnivorans

Enhydriodon is an extinct genus of mustelids known from Africa, Pakistan, and India that lived from the late Miocene to the early Pleistocene. It contains 9 confirmed species, 2 debated species, and at least a few other undescribed species from Africa. The genus belongs to the tribe Enhydriodontini in the otter subfamily Lutrinae. Enhydriodon means "otter tooth" in Ancient Greek and is a reference to its dentition rather than to the Enhydra genus, which includes the modern sea otter and its two prehistoric relatives.

Micropithecus is an extinct genus of primates that lived in East Africa about 19 to 15 million years ago, during the early Miocene. The genus and its type species, Micropithecus clarki, were first scientifically described in 1978.

<i>Plesiotypotherium</i> Extinct genus of notoungulates

Plesiotypotherium is an extinct genus of Notoungulate, belonging to the suborder Typotheria. It lived from the Middle to the Late Miocene, and its fossilized remains were discovered in South America.

<i>Pachypanthera</i> Genus of prehistoric mammals

Pachypanthera is an extinct genus of pantherine felid that was recovered from the Late Miocene-aged Khorat sand pits in northeastern Thailand. It contains a single species, Pachypanthera piriyai, named and described in 2023.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Merceron; Blondel; De Bonis; Koufos; Viriot (2005). "A New Method of Dental Microwear Analysis: Application to Extant Primates and Ouranopithecus macedoniensis (Late Miocene of Greece)". PALAIOS. 20 (6): 551–561. Bibcode:2005Palai..20..551M. doi:10.2110/palo.2004.p04-17. S2CID   84921970.
  2. Koufos, G. D.; Plastiras, C.-A.; David, C. N.; Sagris, D. (2023). "The Late Miocene hominoid Ouranopithecus macedoniensis (Bonis, Bouvrain, Geraads & Melentis, 1974): maxillary deciduous dentition and virtual reconstruction of the unerupted permanent teeth". Comptes Rendus Palevol. 22 (33): 667–688. doi: 10.5852/cr-palevol2023v22a33 . S2CID   265176590.
  3. Güleç; Sevim; Pehlevan; Kaya (2007). "A new great ape from the late Miocene of Turkey". Anthropological Science. 115 (2): 153–158. doi: 10.1537/ase.070501 .
  4. 1 2 3 4 Schrein, Caitlin M. (2006). "Metric variation and sexual dimporphism in the dentition of Ouranopithecus macedoniensis". Journal of Human Evolution. 50 (4): 460–468. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2005.11.007. PMID   16413596.
  5. de Bonis, Louis; et al. (1990). "New hominoid skull material from the late Miocene of Macedonia in Northern Greece". Nature. 345 (6277): 712–4. Bibcode:1990Natur.345..712D. doi:10.1038/345712a0. PMID   2193230. S2CID   4259387.