Oreopithecus

Oreopithecus is an extinct genus of ape from the Miocene epoch whose fossils have been found in today's Tuscany and Sardinia in Italy. It existed 9–7 million years ago in that region when it formed an isolated island in a chain of islands stretching from central Europe to northern Africa in what was becoming the Mediterranean Sea.

Oreopithecus

Ghedoghedo · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
HominidaePBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Hominidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Hominidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At most 6.6 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 11.63 Mya and 5.09 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Miocene — about 5 of 5 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 5 occurrencesPliocene12–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–9.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.9–9.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.6–9.4 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences9.4–9.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences9.1–8.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences8.9–8.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences8.6–8.4 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences8.4–8.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences8.1–7.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences7.9–7.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences7.6–7.4 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences7.4–7.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.1–6.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.9–6.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.6–6.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.3–6.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.1–5.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.8–5.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.6–5.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.1–4.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12.1 Mya4.6 Mya

5 occurrences of Oreopithecus on record, most of them in the Miocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

5 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Oreopithecus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Oreopithecus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

38 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 5 sites for Oreopithecus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

4 references

Each of the 5 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Oreopithecus

Credit
Ghedoghedo
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Oreopithecus bambolii · nmb:Bac 62

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itHominidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gervais 1872