Ouranopithecus macedoniensis

Taxobox
name = "Ouranopithecus macedoniensis"
fossil_range = Miocene

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image_width = 250px
image_caption = "Ouranopithecus macedoniensis" skull, Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, Paris
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Primates
familia = Hominidae
genus = "Ouranopithecus"
species = "O. macedoniensis"
binomial = " Ouranopithecus macedoniensis "
binomial_authority = Bonis & Melentis, 1977

"Ouranopithecus macedoniensis", sometimes called "Graecopithecus freybergi", is a prehistoric hominid species found in Greece and dated to the late Miocene. [PDF|1= [http://www.eva.mpg.de/evolution/pdf/Smith_et_al2004.pdf An examination of dental development in "Graecopithecus freybergi" (="Ouranopithecus macedoniensis")] |2=2.30 MB; by Tanya M. Smith, Lawrence B. Martin, Donald J. Reid, Louis de Bonis, George D. Koufos; "Journal of Human Evolution" 46 (2004) 551–577.] Based on "O. macedoniensis"'s dental and facial anatomy, it is possible that "O. macedoniensis" was a dryopithecine. However, "O. macedoniensis" seems to be more closely related to orangutans in subfamily Ponginae while the most of Dryopithecinae are more closely related to the other great apes in Homininae and a few are considered to be outside of the ape clade altogether. One distinctive trait that "Ouranopithecus" shares with the humans and other modern African apes is the "frontal sinus", a cavity in the forehead. Some investigators consider it possible that "O. macedoniensis" was the last common ancestor of the African great apes and the humans.

Morphology

"O. macedoniensis" had a large, broad face with a prominent supraorbital torus. It also had square-shaped orbits. "O. macedoniensis" may have had a relative large body size."O. macedoniensis"'s molar enamel cover was fairly thick and had low cusps. Sexual dimorphism is evident by the teeth. The male "O. macedoniensis" had large canine teeth with shearing lower premolars.

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. [See microwear image at http://comp.uark.edu/~pungar/images.htm.]

References

ee also

* "Nakalipithecus nakayamai"

External links

*http://members.tripod.com/cacajao/taxonomy_primata.html
* [http://www.fmnh.helsinki.fi/users/haaramo/Metazoa/Deuterostoma/Chordata/Synapsida/Eutheria/Primates/Hominoidea/hominoidea.htm Mikko's Phylogeny archive]