Pongo weidenreichi

  1. Home
  2. Wiki

Chinese orangutan
Temporal range: Middle Pleistocene–Late Pleistocene
↓
Scientific classification Edit this 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
P. pygmaeus weidenreichi (Hooijer, 1948)
P. pygmaeus ciochoni (Schwartz, Long, Cuong, Kha & Tattersall, 1995)
P. pygmaeus fromageti (Schwartz, Long, Cuong, Kha & Tattersall, 1995)
P. pygmaeus kahlkei (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]

According to a 2025 study by Liang et al, in southern China, P. weidenreichi was ecologically replaced by a smaller Pongo species, Pongo devosi, by the late Middle Pleistocene, approximately 184,000 years ago.[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]

In southern China during the Middle-Late Pleistocene, orangutans formed part of the "Ailuropoda-Stegodon fauna" alongside animals both living in the region today as well as those that are extinct, including the giant panda ancestor Ailuropoda baconi, the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), the "giant tapir" (Tapirus augustus), the extinct elephant-relative Stegodon orientalis, the Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis), the extinct rhinoceros Rhinoceros sinensis (which may in reality actually represent the living Indian rhinoceros, Rhinoceros unicornis[10]), wild boar (Sus scrofa), muntjac, water buffalo, sika deer (Cervus nippon), gibbons (Hylobates), tigers (Panthera tigris), and the extinct cave hyena (Crocuta ultima).[11][12][13]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ Filoux, Arnaud; Suteethorn, Varavudh (February 2018). "A late Pleistocene skeleton of Rhinoceros unicornis (Mammalia, Rhinocerotidae) from western part of Thailand (Kanchanaburi Province)". Geobios. 51 (1): 31–49. doi:10.1016/j.geobios.2017.12.003.
  11. ^ Liang, Hua; Liao, Wei; Shao, Qingfeng; Chen, Qiong; Tian, Chun; Yao, Yanyan; Li, Jinyan; Wang, Wei (2022-11-06). "New discovery of a late Middle Pleistocene mammalian fauna in Ganxian Cave, Southern China". Historical Biology: 1–18. doi:10.1080/08912963.2022.2139180. ISSN 0891-2963.
  12. ^ Hu, Haiqian; Tong, Haowen; Shao, Qingfeng; Wei, Guangbiao; Yu, Haidong; Shi, Jingsong; Wang, Xunqian; Xiong, Can; Lin, Yu; Li, Ning; Wei, Zhaoying; Wang, Ping; Jiangzuo, Qigao (March 2023). "New remains of Ailuropoda melanoleuca baconi from Yanjinggou, China: Throwing light on the evolution of giant pandas during the Pleistocene". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 30 (1): 137–154. doi:10.1007/s10914-022-09637-1. ISSN 1064-7554.
  13. ^ Li, Zhi-wen; Sun, Li; Li, Bao-sheng; Wang, Feng-nian; Du, Ding-ding; Song, You-gui; Zhang, Hui-Juan; Chen, Liu-qin; Xu, Dan (February 2022). "East Asian summer monsoon changes in subtropical China since late Pleistocene: Evidence from the Ailuropoda-Stegodon fauna". Journal of Mountain Science. 19 (2): 418–432. doi:10.1007/s11629-021-6985-y. ISSN 1672-6316.
Stub icon

This prehistoric primate-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.