Dryopithecus

Dryopithecus Temporal range: 12–9 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓ Miocene
Mandible fragment of D. fontani from Saint-Gaudens, France (Middle Miocene, 11,5 My) ; cast from Museum national d'histoire naturelle, Paris
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Primates
Superfamily:	Hominoidea
Family:	Hominidae
Subfamily:	Homininae
Tribe:	Dryopithecini
Genus:	Dryopithecus† Lartet, 1856
Species
†Dryopithecus wuduensis †Dryopithecus fontani †Dryopithecus brancoi

Dryopithecus was a genus of apes that is known from East Africa into Eurasia during the late Miocene period. The first species of Dryopithecus was discovered at the site of Saint-Gaudens, Haute-Garonne, France, in 1856.^[1] Other dryopithecids have been found in Hungary,^[2] Spain,^[3] and China.^[4]

Like Sivapithecus, Dryopithecus was suspensory, had a large brain and a delayed development; but, unlike the former, it had a gracile jaw with thinly enameled molars and suspensory forelimbs. The similarities and differences between them provide insight into the timing and paleogeography of hominin origins and the phylogenetic divide between Asian and Afro-European great apes.^[5]

Description

Dryopithecus was about 4 feet long and more closely resembled a monkey than a modern ape. The structure of its limbs and wrists show that it walked in a way similar to modern chimpanzees but that it used the flat of its hands, like a monkey, rather than knuckle-walking like modern apes.^[6] Its face exhibited klinorhynchy, i.e. it was tilted downwards in profile.

It likely spent most of its life in trees, and was probably a brachiator, similar to modern orangutans and gibbons. Its molars had relatively little enamel, suggesting that it ate soft leaves and fruit, an ideal diet for a tree-dwelling animal.^[6]

The five-cusp and juvenile^[7] fissure pattern of its molar teeth, known as the Y-5 arrangement, is typical of the dryopithecids and of hominoids in general.

Additional images

Dryopithecus fontani jaw in front view at the Geological Museum, Copenhagen  Jaw of D. fontani  Stamps of Uzbekistan, 2002, showing D. maior

See also

• Hispanopithecus

Notes

1. Pilbeam & Simons 1971
2. Kordos & Begun 2001
3. Harrison, Ribot & Gibert 1996
4. Xue & Delson 1989
5. Begun 2004, Abstract, Conclusions
6. Palmer 1999
7. Simons & Meinel 1983

References

• Begun, David R. (2004). "Sivapithecus is east and Dryopithecus is west, and never the twain shall meet". Anthropological Science 113 (1): 53–64. doi:10.1537/ase.04S008. CiteSeerX: 10.1.1.88.1617.
• Harrison, Terry; Ribot, F; Gibert, J (1996). "A reinterpretation of the taxonomy of Dryopithecus from Valles-Penedes, Catalonia (Spain)" (PDF). Journal of Human Evolution 31: 129–141. doi:10.1006/jhev.1996.0054. Terry Harrison's faculty page
• Kordos, László; Begun, David R. (2001). "A new cranium of Dryopithecus from Rudabánya, Hungary" (PDF). Journal of Human Evolution 41: 689–700. doi:10.1006/jhev.2001.0523.
• Palmer, D, ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 292. ISBN 1-84028-152-9.
• Pilbeam, David; Simons, E. L. (February 1971). "Biological Sciences: Humerus of Dryopithecus from Saint Gaudens, France". Nature 229 (5284): 406–407. doi:10.1038/229406a0. PMID 4926991.
• Simons, E. L.; Meinel, W. (1983). "Mandibular ontogeny in the miocene great apeDryopithecus". International Journal of Primatology 4 (4): 331–162. doi:10.1007/BF02735598.
• Xue, Xiang-Xu; Delson, Eric (1989). "A new species of Dryopithecus from Gansu, China" (PDF). Chinese Science Bulletin 34: 223–230.

External links

• Media related to Dryopithecus at Wikimedia Commons
• Mikko's phylogeny archive