Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Acknowledgements: The European Science Foundation
- PART I: Chronology and environment
- PART II: Methods and phylogeny
- PART III Miocone hominoids: function and phylogeny
- 8 Eurasian hominoid evolution in the light of recent Dryopithecus findings
- 9 Functional morphology of Ankarapithecus meteai
- 10 African and Eurasian Miocene hominoids and the origins of the Hominidae
- 11 Phylogenetic relationships of Ouranopithecus macedoniensis (Mammalia, Primates, Hominoidea, Hominidae) of the late Miocene deposits of Central Macedonia (Greece)
- 12 Phylogeny and sexually dimorphic characters: Canine reduction in Ouranopithecus
- 13 Heterochrony and the cranial anatomy of Oreopithecus: some cladistic fallacies and the significance of developmental constraints in phylogenetic analysis
- 14 The late Miocene hominoid from Georgia
- 15 Forelimb function, bone curvature and phylogeny of Sivapithecus
- 16 Sivapithecus and hominoid evolution: some brief comments
- Index
11 - Phylogenetic relationships of Ouranopithecus macedoniensis (Mammalia, Primates, Hominoidea, Hominidae) of the late Miocene deposits of Central Macedonia (Greece)
from PART III - Miocone hominoids: function and phylogeny
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Acknowledgements: The European Science Foundation
- PART I: Chronology and environment
- PART II: Methods and phylogeny
- PART III Miocone hominoids: function and phylogeny
- 8 Eurasian hominoid evolution in the light of recent Dryopithecus findings
- 9 Functional morphology of Ankarapithecus meteai
- 10 African and Eurasian Miocene hominoids and the origins of the Hominidae
- 11 Phylogenetic relationships of Ouranopithecus macedoniensis (Mammalia, Primates, Hominoidea, Hominidae) of the late Miocene deposits of Central Macedonia (Greece)
- 12 Phylogeny and sexually dimorphic characters: Canine reduction in Ouranopithecus
- 13 Heterochrony and the cranial anatomy of Oreopithecus: some cladistic fallacies and the significance of developmental constraints in phylogenetic analysis
- 14 The late Miocene hominoid from Georgia
- 15 Forelimb function, bone curvature and phylogeny of Sivapithecus
- 16 Sivapithecus and hominoid evolution: some brief comments
- Index
Summary
The genus Ouranopithecus is based on the species Ouranopithecus macedoniensis, which has been described from specimens recovered in late Miocene layers of Macedonia, northern Greece. The first specimen, a mandible of a young individual, the type-specimen of the species, was first published under the name Dryopithecus macedoniensis (Bonis et al., 1974). At that time, following a recent revision of Miocene hominoids (Simons & Pilbeam, 1965), all the Miocene genera, except ‘Ramapithecus’, were included in the genus Dryopithecus. Some years later, the discovery of several jaws and isolated teeth led to naming the new genus Ouranopithecus (Bonis & Melentis, 1977). All the material was recovered from a locality named Ravin de la Pluie, 25 km west of the city of Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece. Later, a nearly complete face of Ouranopithecus was recovered from the locality of Xirochori close to the Ravin de la Pluie (Bonis et al., 1990) and a mandible and a maxilla were found at Nikiti 1, 100 km east of Thessaloniki (Koufos, 1993; 1995). All the specimens are of similar geological age (Bonis & Koufos, 1999) and the three localities had similar palaeoenvironment. Nikiti 1, however, although closely resembling the open environments of Ravin de la Pluie and Xirochori 1 (Bonis et al., 1992) by the presence of large numbers of giraffids, differs from them by the presence of boselaphines and the suid Microstonyx which indicate a more forested environment (Kostopoulos et al., 1996; Kostopoulos & Koufos, 1996).
Dating and environment
The fossil vertebrate bearing localities of the Central Macedonian basin were discovered in 1915 (Arambourg & Piveteau, 1929; Bonis & Koufos, 1994).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Hominoid Evolution and Climatic Change in EuropePhylogeny of the Neogene Hominoid Primates of Eurasia, pp. 254 - 268Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2001
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