Athena Review Image Archive ™
Lufengpithecus lufengensis skull
Skull of Lufengpithecus lufengensis (Xue Ping Ji et al. 2013)
A juvenile cranium of the Late Miocene ape Lufengpithecus lufengensis
was reported in 2013 at the site of Shuitangba in Yunnan
Province, China, dating 6.1 mya. This is only the second
relatively complete skull of a young juvenile known from
Miocene apes.
Lufengpithecus has often been considered to be in the lineage of the extant orangutan Pongo, now confined to Southeast Asia but also known from the late Pleistocene of southern China. The new Lufengpithecus
cranium, however, shows little resemblance to those of living
orangutans. It appears to represent instead a late surviving lineage of
Eurasian apes, with no certain affinities. Southern China was less
affected by climatic deterioration during the later Miocene that may
have caused extinction of varous ape species in Eurasia
Reference:
XuePing Ji et al. 2013. Juvenile hominoid cranium from the terminal Miocene of Yunnan, China. Chinese Science Bulletin, published online August, 2013
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