Dryopithecus

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Dry·o·pith·e·cus

 (drī′ə-pĭth′ĭ-kəs)
n.
A genus of extinct apes known from Miocene and Pliocene fossil remains found in Africa and Eurasia and believed to be ancestral to the living great apes, including humans.

[New Latin Dryopithēcus, genus name : Greek drūs, oak (in reference to the apes' arboreal lifestyle and to the fossil remains of oak found in the same area as some of the first known specimens of the genus); see deru- in Indo-European roots + Greek pithēkos, ape.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.Dryopithecus - genus of Old World hominoids; Miocene and Pliocene
mammal genus - a genus of mammals
family Hominidae, Hominidae - modern man and extinct immediate ancestors of man
dryopithecine - considered a possible ancestor to both anthropoid apes and humans
Dryopithecus Rudapithecus hungaricus, rudapithecus - fossil hominoids from northern central Hungary; late Miocene
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Mentioned in
References in classic literature
One said it was the dryopithecus of Java, the other said it was pithecanthropus.
William King Gregory (1922:476) opined: "Apart from a few striking cases, presently to be noted, racial characters in the teeth are at most not very conspicuous." The traits he considered variable enough to be noted included shovel-shaped incisors, upper molar cusp number, lower molar cusp number, Dryopithecus pattern, and Carabelli's cusp.
The Chinji Formation is characterized by the presence of Dryopithecus, Sivacanthion, Dissopsalis, Vishnucyon, Sivaelurus, Gomphotherium, Gaindatherium, Bunolistriodon, Listriodon, Tetraconodon, Hyotherium, Microstonyx, Hemimeryx, Dorcabune, Sanitherium, Giraffa, and Giraffokeryx (Pilgrim, 1911, 1913; Colbert, 1935; Matthew, 1929; Khan et al., 2008, 2009, 2010; Khan and Akhtar, 2011).
The pongid clade and the hominoid clade were thought to be descended, respectively, from the two extinct ape species Dryopithecus and Ramapithecus.
Dental microwear variability on buccal tooth enamel surfaces of extant and the Miocene fossil Dryopithecus laietanus (Hominoidea).
Como ejemplo de estos antropoides pueden citarse el Dryopithecus, el Oreopithecus y el Ramapithecus.
Scientists excavating a site in Spain have found a 9.5-million-year-old, nearly complete skeleton of an extinct ape known as Dryopithecus. The discovery affords a rare look at how bodily features needed for climbing, hanging, and swinging in trees evolved in ancient apes.
The description and study of these remains, currently under way, will hopefully enable to ascertain whether they correspond to any of the other dryopithecin taxa recorded at Abocador de Can Mata (Pierolapithecus, Anoiapithecus, Dryopithecus) or to another, otherwise unrecorded hominid taxon.
Dryopithecus, an extinct ape that lived in western and southern Europe between about 9 million and 12 million years ago, finds itself embroiled in a scientific tug-of-war over its evolutionary affiliations.
(2007b): Paleoenvironment of Dryopithecus brancoi at Rudabanya, Hungary: Evidence from dental meso- and micro-wear analyses of large vegetarian mammals.
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