Dendropithecus
| Dendropithecus Temporal range:
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| Dendropithecus macinnesi jaw | |
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| Genus: | Dendropithecus Andrews and Simons, 1977
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Dendropithecus is an extinct genus of apes native to East Africa between 20 and 15 million years ago. It may have been the ancestor of modern gibbons, which it resembled in some respects.[1]
Dendropithecus was a slender ape, about 60 centimetres (2.0 ft) in body length. The structure of its arms suggest that it would have been able to brachiate, swinging between trees by its arms, but that it would not have been as efficient at this form of movement as modern gibbons. However, its teeth suggest a very gibbon-like diet, likely consisting of fruit, soft leaves and flowers.[1]
Dendropithecus was originally described as a new species of Limnopithecus, L. macinnesi, in 1950, before it was recognized as a distinct genus in 1977.[2] A second species, D. orientalis, was described in 1990 from middle Miocene deposits in northern Thailand, but was transferred to the pliopithecid genus Dionysopithecus in 1999.[3]
References
- ^ a b Palmer, D., ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 291. ISBN 1-84028-152-9.
- ^ Andrews, P; Simons, E (1977). "A new African Miocene gibbon-like genus, Dendropithecus (Hominoidea, Primates) with distinctive postcranial adaptations: its significance to origin of Hylobatidae". Folia Primatologica. 28 (3): 161–169. doi:10.1159/000155807. PMID 914128.
- ^ Begun, D.R. (2002). «The Pliopithecoidea». En Hartwig, W. C. The Primate Fossil Record. Cambridge University Press. pp. 222-240. ISBN 0521663156.