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m Cleaned up dates. There are no Pliopithecoid fossils known from the Pliocene. |
m Journal cites, added 2 DOIs using AWB (12158) |
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With the discovery of more European pliopithecoid fossils in the mid to late 1970s,<ref name="Ginsburg1975">{{cite journal|last1=Ginsburg|first1=Leonard|title=Les Pliopithe`ques des faluns helve´tiens de la Touraine et de l’Anjou |journal=Colloques Internationaux du Centre national de la recherche scientifique |date=1975|issue=218|pages=877–886}}</ref><ref name="Ginsburg&Mein1980">{{cite journal|last1=Ginsburg|first1=Leonard|last2=Mein|first2=Pierre|title=''Crouzelia rhondanica'', nouvelle espe`ce de primate catarrhinien, et essai sur la position systématique de Pliopithecidae|journal=Bulletin du Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, Paris|date=1980|issue=4|pages=57–85}}</ref> and subsequent discovery of pliopithecoid fossils in China,<ref name="Li1978">{{cite journal|last1=Li|first1=Chuan-kuei|title=A Miocene gibbon-like primate from Shihhung, Kiangsu Province|journal=Vertebrata PalAsiatica |date=1978|issue=16|pages=187–192}}</ref> the idea that pliopithecoids were ancestral to gibbons fell out of favor. Today, most paleontologists agree that pliopithecoids hold a basal position in the [[catarrhine]] family tree.<ref name="Begun2002" /><ref name="Harrison2013" /><ref name="Alba&Moyà-Solà2012">{{cite journal|last1=Alba|first1=David|last2=Moyà-Solà|first2=Salvador|title=A New Pliopithecid Genus (Primates: Pliopithecoidea) From Castel de Barberà (Vallès-Penedès Basin, Catalonia, Spain)|journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology|date=2012|issue=147|pages=88–112}}</ref> As such, pliopithecoids represent something similar to the common ancestor of [[Old World monkey]]s and [[ape]]s.
A [[femur]] discovered in [[Eppelsheim]] and given the Genus name [[Paidopithex]] was for many years controversial, as its large size compared to Pliopithecoids led to suggestions that it was instead related to the [[Dryopithecini]]. A lack of femurs for Dryopithecini meant that the suggestion was not ruled out for many years, but in 2002 work by Köhler et al comparing it to a recently discovered [[Dryopithecus laietanus]] skeleton showed that it was very different from the Dryopithecini. However, Köhler felt unable to definitely place Paidopithex in the Pliopithecoid superfamily, stating it was either an unusually large Pliopithecoid (estimated bodyweight
A worn tooth found near [[Haritalyangar]] in India and dated from around 9 to 8 million years ago has been suggested as possibly a Pliopithecoid species, [[Krishnapithecus krishnai]], but the wear has made this difficult to determine.<ref name="Begun2012">{{cite book|editor-last1=Begun|editor-first1=David|title=A Companion To Paleoanthropology|date=2012|chapter=Chapter 20 Catarrhine Origins|last=Harrison|first=Terry|publisher=Wiley Blackwell|isbn=978-1-118-33237-5|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=oIoT1RcFeCwC&pg=PT276&lpg=PT276|archiveurl=http://www.academia.edu/7124992/2013_Harrison_-_Catarrhine_Origins|archive-date=2013}}</ref> However, two recently discovered molars in the same area appear to support this, with placement within the superfamily uncertain (but clearly not Crouzeliinae)<ref name="Sankhyan">{{cite
== Physical characteristics ==
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The crania of ''P. vindobonesis'', ''Laccopithecus robustus'', ''Pliopithecus zhanxiangi'', and ''Anapithecus hernyaki'' demonstrate that pliopithecoids had relatively large and globular braincases with a projecting snout.<ref name="Begun2002" /><ref name="Andrewsetal1996" /> The snout projects less than the propliopithecoids of North Africa (''i.e.'' ''[[Aegyptopithecus]]''), suggesting some prognathic reduction from the inferred common ancestor of these two primate families. The orbits are widely spaced and the mandible is long and robust, with a relatively broad ramus.<ref name="Begun2002" /> Most importantly, however, pliopithecoids had an incompletely ossified ectotympanic tube. This anatomical feature represents an intermediate stage between what is found in [[platyrrhines]], which do not have an ossified ectotympanic tube, and [[catarrhines]], which have a completely ossified ectoympanic tube.<ref name="Begun2002" /><ref name="Harrison2013" /><ref name="Andrewsetal1996" />
Nearly all of what is known about the body proportions and post-cranial morphology of this family are derived from ''Pliopithecus vindobonensis'', as it is the only species for which a complete skeleton has been found.<ref name="Zapfe1958" /> Still, the majority of fossil material indicates that pliopithecoids were medium sized primates, approximately the size of a howler monkey or a gibbon (8 kg).<ref name="Albaetal2012">{{cite journal|last1=Alba|first1=David|last2=Moyà-Solà|first2=Salvador|last3=Robles|first3=Josep M.|last4=Galindo|first4=Jordi|title=Brief Communication: The Oldest Pliopithecid Record in the Iberia Peninsula Based on New Material From the Vallès-Penedès Basin|journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology|date=2012|volume=147|pages=135–140|doi=10.1002/ajpa.21631|pmid=22170401}}</ref> Köhler estaimes a slightly higher average weight of 10
== Classification ==
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*****''[[incertae sedis]]'' (undefined)
******Genus ''[[Paidopithex]]'' (Pohlig, 1895)
******Genus ''[[Krishnapithecus]]''
Begun (2012 - A Companion To Paleoanthroplogy) divides Pliopithecoidea into two - Family [[Dionysopithecidae]] and Family [[Pliopithecidae]], with the [[Pliopithecidae]] sub-divided into [[Subfamily|Subfamilies]] [[Pliopithecinae]] and [[Crouzeliinae]].<ref name="Begun2012"
== Notes ==
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