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Pongo weidenreichi

Species of ape From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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The Chinese orangutan (Pongo weidenreichi) is an extinct species of orangutan from the Pleistocene of South China and possibly Southeast Asia.

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Description

The dental dimensions of P. weidenreichi are approximately 20% bigger than those of living orangutans.[1]

Distribution

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]

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Palaeoecology

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

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