Lufengpithecus lufengensis
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Lufengpithecus lufengensis Temporal range: Miocene |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Family: | Hominidae |
| Genus: | Lufengpithecus |
| Species: | L. lufengensis |
| Binomial name | |
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Lufengpithecus lufengensis (Xu, Lu, Pan, Qi, Zhang & Zheng, 1978) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Lufengpithecus lufengensis is a prehistoric species of hominoid from the Late Miocene found in China, named after the Lufeng site and dated around 6.2 Ma. It is the latest Miocene fossil ape that has been discovered in the entire world. Some researchers believe that genus Lufengpithecus could be an ancestor to African apes and hominids.
There are three known species of Lufengpithecus: keiyuanensis from near Kaiyuan in the Xiaolongtan Basin (10-11mya), hudienensis from Yuanmou Basin (7.1-8.2mya), and lufengensis from Shihuiba in the Lufeng Basin (6.2-6.9mya). Some argue that this taxa is a distinct clade of late Miocene East Asian hominoids that are not closely related to any extant taxa. In fact, compared to YV0999 (a cranium of L. hudienensis from Yuanmou), there may have been a high degree of local endemism of apes during this time, due to the wide differences between the two species. This fits with the topographic data of Southwest China at the time, which was subject to uplift and erosion, which created the complex topography of mountain ranges and basins that is still present in current day.
In the Lufeng region of China, a known miocine hominoid site, a series of excavations were done between 1975 and 1983 which recovered five skulls, tens of mandibles, hundreds of isolated teeth and some post-cranial bones of the species.
ZT299 is a relatively complete juvenile male cranium found in the Zhaotong Basin in Yunnan Province of Southeast China. While it was partly broken during recovery, it encountered almost no distortion beforehand. It has prominent, robust arching supraorbital costae, and eye orbits that are broader than they are tall, more so than any extant great apes. However, these still fall within the range of Pongo orbital height and width, although it does not have any of the key features of the genus or any of the African apes. It is only the second relatively complete cranium uncovered of this species.
PA 644 is an adult crania discovered in 1987 that has been reconstructed, but is different in both age and development than ZT299.
PA 868 is a juvenile mandible which was in process of sprouting its first molar of the Lufengpithecus lufengensis and was found in the Yunnan Province in southwestern China around the late 1950s.
PA 869 is another juvenile mandible of Lufengpithecus lufengensis and was discovered in 1980 in Shihuiba Village, Lufeng County, Yunnan Province in China.
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Wikipedia