Oreopithecus

Oreopithecus at the Instituto de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont

• Tuscany ( Baccinello, Casteani, Montebamboli, Montemassi Ribolla )
• Sardinia ( Fiume Santo )

Oreopithecus bambolii is an extinct species of primates, which presumably could walk upright. The species is not considered a human ancestor, but is counted as ordinary Hominoidea.

Remains of Oreopithecus bambolii come from the upper Miocene ( about 8-7 million years ago) and have been found among others in 1958 in Tuscany by Anton John Hürzeler and later on Sardinia. Sardinia and Tuscany formed in the Miocene, together with a large island of Corsica, which belonged to a lying between Europe and Africa archipelago.

Oreopithecus bambolii is to date the only known species of the genus Oreopithecus which the name is derived from Greek ὄρος oros, mountain ' and πίθηκος pithekos, monkey ' and thus means Bergaffe '.

Anatomical features

The anatomical features of Oreopithecus bambolii could be fairly well reconstructed, since almost all the bones have survived. Thus possessed Oreopithecus bambolii - similar to the later types of direct human ancestors - a relatively short mandibles with small incisors and canines also relatively small, the diastema between incisors and canine in the upper jaw was small or absent. The foramen magnum was relatively far forward, which - was interpreted as an indication of bipedal locomotion - together with findings for the construction of the bones of the trunk and legs.

It is estimated the body length of this primate to 110 cm and weight 25 kg. The skeleton is characterized by long arms, browridges and a missing tail. Due to the long arms was long believed, Oreopithecus bambolii had moved hand over hand swinging through the trees. Recent studies of short, human-like basin and the leg skeleton indicate, however, that he was moving along predominantly upright on two legs. The big toe was - similar to Ardipithecus ramidus - at an angle of 100 ° from the stand so that the entire foot formed a tripod. This foot anatomy allowed no quick run. Other scientists disagree, according to studies of the lumbar spine and sacrum of Oreopithecus the thesis of the upright posture.

His limbs morphology could develop under the conditions of an isolated island ecology. Apart from two piscivorous otters and an omnivorous but mainly herbivorous bear, there were on the island of the Tuscan- Sardinian no predators. Before 6.5 million years the island region got back in touch with the European mainland as a result of tectonic upheavals of the Apennine region and an incipient desiccation of the Mediterranean ( called the Messinian salinity crisis ), and was populated by saber-toothed cats like Machairodus and Metailurus. Oreopithecus bambolii died out then.

System

The species is not a direct ancestor of man, but is a convergent development and will produce also speaks that they isolated from the human ancestors who lived in Africa, evolved.

The phylogenetic position of Oreopithecus bambolii is controversial. Some researchers the way in their own family ( Oreopithecidae ) as a side branch of the superfamily of human -like ( Hominoidea ) is assigned, interpreted by other researchers, however, as a member of the family of great apes ( Hominidae ). According to studies of Baccinello - Fossils from 1990 Oreopithecus bambolii is in the phylogenetic proximity of Dryopithecus.