Preliminary Revision of the Dryopithecinae (Pongidae, Anthropoidea)

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Abstract
The history of Miocene and Pliocene dryopithecine discoveries and classification from 1856 to the present is reviewed. Geographical and morphological relationships of dryopithecine fossils are considered in relation to the question of dating the East African and Indian forms. Proconsul and Sivapithecus are shown to be subgenera of Dryopithecus. This is not a case of "lumping". Direct study of relevant originals indicates that there are no differences likely to be generic among these 3 taxa. In comparable parts all Dryopithecus species are much more similar to each other than are the various African species or races of chimpanzee and of gorilla in these same parts. Three genera are retained for hominoids previously considered to be dryopithecines Dryopithecus, with 7 contained species, Gigantopithecus, and Ramapithecus, both monotypic. Dryopithecus and Gigantopithecus are pongids, Ramapithecus a hominid. These 2 families of Hominoidea were demonstrably distinct by late Miocene time. Species of Dryopithecus are regarded as ancestral to those of Pan and Gorilla and possibly to Ramapithecus and species of the latter to those of Australopithecus. No unequivocal pre-Pleistocene ancestors of Pongo are known at present. It is postulated that canine reduction, facial gracility, and relative decrease in absolute size of the anterior dentition of Ramapithecus were associated with greater use of the hands in food-stripping than is the case for chimpanzee and gorilla.

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