Pliopithecus

Pliopithecus; Temporal range: Miocene, PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
	Mandible fragment of Pliopithecus antiquus from Sansan, France; cast from Museum national d'histoire naturelle, Paris
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Primates
Suborder:	Haplorhini
Infraorder:	Simiiformes
Family:	†Pliopithecidae
Subfamily:	†Pliopithecinae
Genus:	†Pliopithecus; Gervais, 1849
Paleospecies
	†Pliopithecus antiquus; †Pliopithecus bii; †Pliopithecus canmatensis; †Pliopithecus piveteaui; †Pliopithecus platyodon; †Pliopithecus vindobonensis; †Pliopithecus zhanxiangi;

Pliopithecus (meaning "more ape") is a genus of extinct primates of the Miocene. It was discovered in 1837 by Édouard Lartet (1801–1871) in France, with fossils subsequently discovered in Switzerland, Slovakia and Spain.

Pliopithecus had a similar size and form to modern gibbons, to which it may be related, although it is probably not a direct ancestor. It had long limbs, hands, and feet, and may have been able to brachiate, swinging between trees using its arms. Unlike gibbons, it had a short tail, and only partial stereoscopic vision.^[1]

They appear to have originated in Asia and extended their range into Europe between 20 and 17 million years ago.^[2]

Begun and Harrison list the following species within the genus:^[2]

Pliopithecus antiquus
Pliopithecus bii
Pliopithecus canmatensis
Pliopithecus platyodon
Pliopithecus vindobonensis
Pliopithecus zhanxiangi

Pliopithecus antiquus has been referred to previously as P. piveteaui.^[3] P. vindobonensis is sometimes considered to be a separate genus, Epipliopithecus.^[4]^[2] Anapithecus is a close relative and was initially considered a subgenus of Pliopithecus.

References

^ Palmer, D., ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 291. ISBN 1-84028-152-9.
^ ^a ^b ^c Harrison, Terry (2018). "Catarrhine Origins". In Trevathan, Wenda (ed.). The International Encyclopedia of Biological Anthropology. Vol. 1. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 306–311. doi:10.1002/9781118584538.ieba0087. ISBN 978-1-118-58442-2.
^ "Pliopithecus antiquus Blainville 1839". Synonym: Pliopithecus piveteaui Hürzeler 1954
^ Harrison, T; Gu, Y (1999). "Taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships of early Miocene catarrhines from Sihong, China". Journal of Human Evolution. 37 (2): 225–277. Bibcode:1999JHumE..37..225H. doi:10.1006/jhev.1999.0310. PMID 10444352.