Gigantopithecus

Gigantopithecus is an extinct genus of great ape that lived in central to southern China from two million to approximately 215,000–295,000 years ago during the Early to Middle Pleistocene, represented by one species, Gigantopithecus blacki. The first remains of Gigantopithecus, two third-molar teeth, were identified in a drugstore by anthropologist Ralph von Koenigswald in 1935 in England, who subsequently described the ape. In 1956, the first mandible and more than 1,000 teeth were found in Liucheng, and numerous more remains have since been found in at least 16 sites. Only teeth and four mandibles are known currently. Other skeletal elements were likely consumed by porcupines before they could fossilize. Gigantopithecus was once argued to be a hominin, a member of the human line, but it is now thought to be closely allied with orangutans, classified in the subfamily Ponginae.

Gigantopithecus

Jonathan Chen · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
SivapitheciniPBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Hominidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Hominidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria
Mass
300 kgWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 4.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 5.333 Mya to 774 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 11.63 Mya to 129 ka.

Miocene — about 1 of 10 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 10 occurrencesPleistocene — about 9 of 10 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 10 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–9.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.7–9.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.3–8.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.9–8.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.5–8.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.1–7.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.7–7.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.3–6.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.9–6.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.5–6.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.1–5.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.7–5.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.8–2.4 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences2.4–2.0 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences2.0–1.6 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences1.6–1.2 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences1.2–809 ka Mya — about 0.9 occurrences809 ka–404 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences404 ka–0 Mya — about 2 occurrences5.333 Mya774 ka12.1 Mya0 Mya

10 occurrences of Gigantopithecus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

10 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

1 formation

Dhok Pathan — 31.53°N, 76.63°E

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The named rock units Gigantopithecus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 9 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Gigantopithecus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Gigantopithecus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

123 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 10 sites for Gigantopithecus, 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

9 references

Each of the 10 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 Gigantopithecus

Credit
Jonathan Chen
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itSivapithecini through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. von Koenigswald 1935