Dryopithecus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dryopithecus

Jaw of Dryopithecus Fontani

Conservation status: Fossil Miocene

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Primates
Superfamily:	Hominoidea
Family:	Dryopithecidae†
Genus:	Dryopithecus† Lartet, 1856

Species

†Dryopithecus wuduensis
†Dryopithecus fontani
†Dryopithecus brancoi
†Dryopithecus laietanus
†Dryopithecus crusafonti

Dryopithecus was a genus of apes that lived in Eastern Africa during the Upper Miocene period, from 12 to 9 million years ago, and which probably includes the common ancestor of the lesser apes (gibbons and siamangs) and the great apes. The first fossil member of the Dryopithecus group (Dryopithecus fontani) was found in France in 1856. The five-cusp and fissure pattern of its molar teeth, known as the Y-5 arrangement, is typical of the dryopithecids and of hominoids in general. Other dryopithecids have been found in Hungary, Spain, and China.

After evolving near the southern end of the African Rift Valley, it expanded throughout the African continent and got as far as Asia and Europe. It was 60 cm long and was probably a brachiator, similar to modern orangutans and gibbonss. It was not a knuckle walker, like the modern African apes (the gorillas and chimpanzees). Its face exhibited klinorhynchy, that is its face tilted downwards in profile.

Dryopithecus was a tree-dwelling animal that ate berries and fruits.