Oreopithecus: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 20:10, 8 November 2023

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Known as the "enigmatic [[hominoid]]", ''Oreopithecus'' can dramatically rewrite the palaeontological map depending on whether it is a descendant of the European ape ''[[Dryopithecus]]'' or an African [[Anthropoidea|anthropoid]].<ref name="Agustí"/> Some have suggested the unique locomotory behavior of ''Oreopithecus'' requires a revision of the current consensus on the timing of bipedality in human developmental history, but there is limited agreement on this point among [[paleontologist]]s.

Simons (1960) considered ''Oreopithecus'' closely related to the early Oligocene ''[[Apidium]]'', a small arboreal anthropoid that lived nearly 34&nbsp;million years ago in Egypt.<ref name="Simons-1960">{{harvnb|Simons|1960}}</ref> ''Oreopithecus'' shows strong links to modern apes in its [[postcranium]] and, in this respect, it is the most modern Miocene ape below the neck, with closest similarities to the postcranial elements of ''[[Dryopithecus]]'', but its dentition is adapted to a leafy diet and a close link is uncertain. Others claim it to be either the sister taxon to [[Cercopithecoidea]] or an even direct human ancestor, but it is usually placed in its own subfamily within [[Hominidae]]. It could instead be added to the same subfamily as ''Dryopithecus'', perhaps as a distinct tribe (Oreopithecini).<ref name="Delson-2000">{{harvnb|Delson|Tattersall|Van Couvering|2000| p=465}}</ref> A cladistic analysis of ''Nyanzapithecus alesi'' recovers ''Oreopithecus'' as a member of the proconsulid subfamily [[Nyanzapithecinae]].<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Isaiah |last1=Nengo |first2=Paul |last2=Tafforeau |first3=Christopher C. |last3=Gilbert |first4=John G. |last4=Fleagle |first5=Ellen R. |last5=Miller |first6=Craig |last6=Feibel |first7=David L. |last7=Fox |first8=Josh |last8=Feinberg |first9=Kelsey D. |last9=Pugh |first10=Camille |last10=Berruyer |first11=Sara |last11=Mana |first12=Zachary |last12=Engle |first13=Fred |last13=Spoor |display-authors=6 |year=2017 |title=New infant cranium from the African Miocene sheds light on ape evolution |journal=Nature |volume=548 |issue=7666 |pages=169–174 |doi=10.1038/nature23456|pmid=28796200 |bibcode=2017Natur.548..169N |s2cid=4397839 |url=https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1570349/1/Spoor_Nengo-et-al_text.pdf }}</ref> A 2023 phylogenetic analysis suggested found a close relationship with [[gibbon]]s, though the author suggested that this was likely due to having a similar climbing lifestyle and retained plesiomorphies, rather than a real close relationsip, but suggested that it was unlikely that ''Oreopithecus'' was a member of Hominidae.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pugh |first=Kelsey D. |date=April 2022 |title=Phylogenetic analysis of Middle-Late Miocene apes |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0047248421001925 |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |language=en |volume=165 |pages=103140 |doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103140|doi-access=free }}</ref>

==Physical characteristics==