Ouranopithecus
Ouranopithecus is a genus of extinct Eurasian great ape represented by two species, Ouranopithecus macedoniensis, a late Miocene (9.6–8.7 mya) hominoid from Greece and Ouranopithecus turkae, also from the late Miocene (8.7–7.4 mya) of Turkey.
| Ouranopithecus Temporal range: Miocene, | |
|---|---|
| Ouranopithecus macedoniensis skull in the French National Museum of Natural History, Paris | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Suborder: | Haplorhini |
| Infraorder: | Simiiformes |
| Family: | Hominidae |
| Tribe: | †Graecopithecini |
| Genus: | †Ouranopithecus Bonis & Melentis, 1977 |
| Species | |
The first specimen O. macedoniensis was discovered by French palaeontologists Louis de Bonis and Jean Melentis in 1977, and O. turkae by Turkish team led by Erksin Savaş Güleç in 2007. For a long time it was considered as similar (synonymous) to Graecopithecus and member of the genus Sivapithecus, which more discoveries proved otherwise.
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