Indopithecus

{{Speciesbox

| image = Almost humans exhibit at ICP in Sabadell (37-2).JPG

| image_alt =

| image_caption = Indopithecus jaw at the Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont in Sabadell, Catalonia

| extinct = yes

| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Miocene}}

| genus = Indopithecus

| species = giganteus

| parent_authority = von Koenigswald, 1950

| authority = (Pilgrim, 1915)

| synonyms =

| synonyms_ref =

}}

Indopithecus giganteus ({{lit|Indian ape}}) is an extinct species of large ape that lived in the late Miocene of the Siwalik Hills in northern India. Although frequently assigned to the more well-known genus Gigantopithecus, recent authors consider it to be a distinct genus in its own right.

Fossils and description

Indopithecus is known only from teeth and jawbones found in the late Miocene of the Siwalik Hills, India. Based on the slim fossil finds, it was a large, ground-dwelling herbivore that ate primarily bamboo and foliage. Despite the specific name, it was approximately half the length of its Chinese relative, Gigantopithecus blacki.

Indopithecus giganteus was originally named as a species of the European ape Dryopithecus, D. giganteus, by Guy Ellcock Pilgrim in 1915, based on a large lower third molar, holotype GSI-D175.{{cite journal |author=Pilgrim, G. E. |date=1915 |title= New Siwalik Primates and their bearing on the question of the evolution of man and the Anthropoidea|journal= Records of the Geological Survey of India |volume=45|pages= 1–74}} However, George Edward Lewis in 1937 decided that Pilgrim's taxon was not congeneric with Dryopithecus and instead referred the molar to the co-eval ape Sivapithecus indicus.{{cite journal |author=Lewis, G. E.|date= 1937|title= Taxonomic syllabus of Siwalik fossil anthropoids|journal= Am. J. Sci.|volume= 34|issue= 200|pages= 139–147 |doi=10.2475/ajs.s5-34.200.139 |bibcode= 1937AmJS...34..139L}} Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koenigswald in 1950 recognized D. giganteus as being distinct from Dryopithecus and Sivapithecus and erected a new genus for it, Indopithecus ("ape from India").{{cite journal |author=Koenigswald, G. Von |date=1950|title= Bemerkungen zu Dryopithecus giganteus Pilgrim|journal=Eclogae Geologicae Helvetiae|volume= 42|pages= 515–519 }} Szalay and Delson (1979) found similarities of the Indopithecus material to Gigantopithecus and synonymized the two genera, treating I. giganteus as a referred species, G. giganteus.{{cite book |author1=Szalay, F. S. |author2=Delson, E. |date=1979|title= Evolutionary history of the primates|url=https://archive.org/details/evolutionaryhist00szalrich |url-access=registration |publisher= Academic Press, New York|isbn=978-1-4832-8925-0 }} However, recent authors, including David Cameron (2001, 2003), Pickford (2010), Patnaik (2014), Begun (2015), and Welker et al. (2019), have argued that Indopithecus should be treated as generically distinct in its own right.{{cite journal|author=Cameron, D. |date=2001|title= The taxonomic status of the Siwalik late Miocene hominid Indopithecus (= Gigantopithecus)|journal= Himalayan Geology|volume= 22|pages= 29–34 }}{{cite journal |author=Cameron, D. |date=2003|title= A functional and phylogenetic interpretation of the late Miocene Siwalik hominid Indopithecus and the Chinese Pleistocene hominid Gigantopithecus|journal= Himalayan Geology |volume=24|pages= 19–28 }}{{cite journal|author= Martin Pickford|title= Additions to the Dehm collection of Siwalik hominoids, Pakistan: descriptions and interpretations|journal= Zitteliana|pages= 111–125|location= Munich|date= 2010|url= https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/12172582.pdf|access-date= 2019-11-16|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171112012036/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/12172582.pdf|archive-date= 2017-11-12|url-status= live}}{{cite journal |author=Patnaik, R. |author2=Cerling, T. |author3=Uno, K. |author4=Fleagle, J. |date=2014|title= Diet and habitat of Siwalik primates Indopithecus, Sivaladapis and Theropithecus|journal= Annales Zoologici Fennici|volume= 51|issue=1/2|pages= 123–142|jstor=23737197 |doi=10.5735/086.051.0214|s2cid=84696321}}{{cite book|author=David R. Begun |date= 2015|title= The Real Planet of the Apes: A New Story of Human Origins |publisher= Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-18280-3 }}{{cite journal |author1=Welker, F. |author2=Ramos-Madrigal, J. |author3=Kuhlwilm, M. |display-authors=etal |date=2019|title=Enamel proteome shows that Gigantopithecus was an early diverging pongine|journal= Nature|volume=576 |issue=7786 |pages=262–265 |doi=10.1038/s41586-019-1728-8|pmid=31723270 |pmc=6908745 |bibcode=2019Natur.576..262W }}

Gigantopithecus bilaspurensis was erected by Elwyn LaVerne Simons and Chopra (1969) for paired lower jaw bones and teeth from deposits in the Siwalk Hills of India dating to approximately 6 to 9 million years ago in the Miocene, specimen Chandigarh-Yale Project No. 359/68, in April 1968 found by G.E. Meyer. The specific name refers to Bilaspur.Simons, E. L. & ChoPra, S. R. K. (1969): Gigantopithecus (Pongidae, Hominoidea): A new species from Northern India. Postilla 138: 1–8. Szalay and Delson (1979) recognized G. bilaspurensis as indistinguishable from known remains of Gigantopithecus giganteus, and synonymized the two taxa.Szalay, F. S. & Delson, E. 1979. Evolutionary history of the primates. Academic Press, New York. Although giganteus is clearly related to G. blacki, Kelly (2002) and Cameron (2001, 2003) agreed with Szalay and Delson (1979) that bilaspurensis is a junior synonym of giganteus.Kelley J., 2002. The hominoid radiation in Asia. pp. 369-384. In: Hartwig W.C, editor. The primate fossil record. Cambridge University Press; Cambridge, UK: 2002.. [Google Scholar]

References

Category:Ponginae

Category:Prehistoric apes

Category:Miocene primates of Asia

Category:Fossil taxa described in 1915