Dryopithecus

Dryopithecus is a genus of extinct great apes from the middle–late Miocene boundary of Europe 12.5 to 11.1 million years ago (mya). Since its discovery in 1856, the genus has been subject to taxonomic turmoil, with numerous new species being described from single remains based on minute differences amongst each other, and the fragmentary nature of the holotype specimen makes differentiating remains difficult. There is currently only one uncontested species, the type species D. fontani, though there may be more. The genus is placed into the tribe Dryopithecini, which is either an offshoot of orangutans, African apes, or is its own separate branch.

Dryopithecus

Ghedoghedo · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
DryopitheciniPBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Hominidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Hominidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At most 18 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 23.04 Mya and 5.333 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Oligocene — about 0 of 5 occurrencesMiocene — about 5 of 5 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 5 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences22–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences17–17 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences10–9.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.8–9.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.2–8.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.6–8.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.0–7.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.3–6.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.7–6.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.1–5.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.5–4.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23.5 Mya4.8 Mya

5 occurrences of Dryopithecus on record, most of them in the Miocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

5 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

4 formations

Maboko — 0.15°S, 34.60°EMaboko — 0.15°N, 34.62°EHsialungtan — 23.71°N, 103.25°EMoghara — 30.38°N, 28.82°ELothidok — 3.22°N, 35.83°E

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The named rock units Dryopithecus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Dryopithecus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Dryopithecus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

118 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 5 sites for Dryopithecus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

5 references

Each of the 5 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Dryopithecus

Credit
Ghedoghedo
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Dryopithecus fontani · ips:IPS35026

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itDryopithecini through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Lartet 1856