Pongo weidenreichi
| Chinese orangutan Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Suborder: | Haplorhini |
| Infraorder: | Simiiformes |
| Family: | Hominidae |
| Genus: | Pongo |
| Species: | †P. weidenreichi
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Pongo weidenreichi Hooijer, 1948
| |
| Synonyms | |
|
P. hooijeri Schwartz, Long, Cuong, Kha & Tattersall, 1995 | |
The Chinese orangutan (Pongo weidenreichi) is an extinct species of orangutan from the Pleistocene of South China and possibly Southeast Asia.
Description
[edit]The dental dimensions of P. weidenreichi are approximately 20% bigger than those of living orangutans.[1]
Distribution
[edit]P. weidenreichi is known from fossil teeth found in the Sanhe Cave,[2][3] as well as the Baikong, Juyuan, and Queque Caves in Chongzuo, Guangxi.[4] The youngest known remains of the species date to between 66,000-57,000 years ago in Yincun Cave, Guangxi.[5] An isolated canine from Thẩm Khuyên Cave, Vietnam, and a fourth premolar from Pha Bong, Thailand, could possibly be assigned to Gigantopithecus, though these could also represent Pongo weidenreichi.[6] Two possible teeth previously attributed to Gigantopithecus from the Late Pleistocene deposit from Vietnam have been subsequently suggested to represent P. weidenreichi instead.[7]
In southern China, P. weidenreichi was ecologically replaced by a smaller Pongo species, Pongo devosi, by the late Middle Pleistocene.[8]
Palaeoecology
[edit]The dental microwear of P. weidenreichi reveals that it lived in forests and predominantly consumed soft fruits. P. weidenreichi had exceptionally similar dental microwear patterns to P. devosi, suggesting the latter species was likewise a frugivorous inhabitant of forested environments and that the two species did not differ substantially in their ecology.[9]
References
[edit]- ^ Lehman, Shawn M.; Fleagle, John G. (24 May 2006). Primate Biogeography: Progress and Prospects. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 346. ISBN 978-0-387-29871-9. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
- ^ Wang, Cui-Bin; Zhao, Ling-Xia; Jin, Chang-Zhu; Wang, Yuan; Qin, Da-Gong; Pan, Wen-Shi (December 2014). "New discovery of Early Pleistocene orangutan fossils from Sanhe Cave in Chongzuo, Guangxi, southern China". Quaternary International. 354: 68–74. Bibcode:2014QuInt.354...68W. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2014.06.020.
- ^ Harrison, Terry; Zhang, Yingqi; Yang, Liyun; Yuan, Zengjian (December 2021). "Evolutionary trend in dental size in fossil orangutans from the Pleistocene of Chongzuo, Guangxi, southern China". Journal of Human Evolution. 161: 103090. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103090. PMID 34781087. S2CID 244106641.
- ^ Harrison, Terry; Jin, Changzhu; Zhang, Yingqi; Wang, Yuan; Zhu, Min (December 2014). "Fossil Pongo from the Early Pleistocene Gigantopithecus fauna of Chongzuo, Guangxi, southern China". Quaternary International. 354: 59–67. Bibcode:2014QuInt.354...59H. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2014.01.013.
- ^ Liao, Wei; Harrison, Terry; Yao, Yanyan; Liang, Hua; Tian, Chun; Feng, Yuexing; Li, Sheng; Bae, Christopher J.; Wang, Wei (September 2022). "Evidence for the latest fossil Pongo in southern China". Journal of Human Evolution. 170: 103233. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103233. PMID 36030625. S2CID 251879262.
- ^ Zhang, Y.; Harrison, T. (2017). "Gigantopithecus blacki: a giant ape from the Pleistocene of Asia revisited". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 162 (S63): 153–177. doi:10.1002/ajpa.23150. PMID 28105715.
- ^ Yingqi, Z. "Review and perspective of the ninety years in quest of Gigantopithecus blacki". Acta Anthropologica Sinica. 43 (6): 1006–1026. doi:10.16359/j.1000-3193/AAS.2024.0094.
- ^ Liang, Hua; Harrison, Terry; Shao, Qingfeng; Bahain, Jean-Jacques; Mo, Jinyou; Feng, Yuexing; Liao, Wei; Wang, Wei (April 2024). "Evidence for the smallest fossil Pongo in southern China". Journal of Human Evolution. 189: 103507. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2024.103507. Retrieved 26 February 2025 – via Elsevier Science Direct.
- ^ Fan, Yaobin; Fehringer, Leah K.; Liao, Wei; Liang, Hua; Wang, Wei; Ungar, Peter Stuart (August 2024). "Dental microwear and diets of mainland fossil Pongo from the Mid-Pleistocene of southern China". Journal of Human Evolution. 193: 103565. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2024.103565. Retrieved 27 February 2025 – via Elsevier Science Direct.
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