Dinopithecus

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title: "Dinopithecus" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["pliocene-primates", "pliocene-mammals-of-africa", "pleistocene-primates", "pleistocene-mammals-of-africa", "prehistoric-monkeys", "monotypic-prehistoric-primate-genera", "taxa-named-by-robert-broom", "fossil-taxa-described-in-1937"] description: "Extinct genus of cercopithecid" topic_path: "general/pliocene-primates" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinopithecus" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Extinct genus of cercopithecid ::

| fossil_range = | image = Dinopithecus ingens cranium (SK 599), DNMNH archive.png | image_caption = Dinopithecus ingens skull. | genus = Dinopithecus | parent_authority = Broom, 1937 | species = ingens | authority = Broom, 1937 | display_parents = 3

Dinopithecus ("terrible ape") is an extinct genus of very large primates, closely related to baboons, that lived during the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs in South Africa and Ethiopia. It was named by British paleontologist Robert Broom in 1937. The only species currently recognized is Dinopithecus ingens, as D. quadratirostris has been reassigned to the genus Soromandrillus. It is known from several infilled cave sites in South Africa, all of early Pleistocene age, including Skurweberg, Swartkrans (Member 1), and Sterkfontein (Member 4 or 5, but probably member 4).

Description

Dinopithecus ingens was approximately three to four times the size of the largest living baboons, with males averaging 49 kg and females 31 kg, based on estimates from the molar teeth. In some cases males were estimated to reach in maturity a weight of 77 kg. The most distinguishing feature of the genus is its large size in comparison to other papionins. The only other papionin species to attain a similar size were Theropithecus brumpti and Theropithecus oswaldi. These, however, are very different from Dinopithecus in their dental morphology. Overall, the skull is similar to that of modern baboons, except that it generally lacks the facial fossae (depressions on the sides of the muzzle and lower jaw) and maxillary ridges (ridges of bone that run along the upper sides of the snout). For these reasons, Dinopithecus is sometimes treated as a subgenus of Papio.

Paleoecology

Most living papionins are omnivorous feeders that consume a wide range of readily digestible plant parts, especially fruits, as well as insects and other invertebrates, and small vertebrates. An analysis of the carbon isotopes from samples of its tooth enamel found Dinopithecus to consume the smallest portion of grass and other savanna-based foods of any South African primate. Analysis of the microwear patterns on the molar teeth showed that they were similar to those of the living yellow baboon (Papio cynocephalus), suggesting a broad and eclectic diet. A study of the adaptations of the molar teeth suggested that D. ingens ate a very high percentage of fruit and relatively few leaves.

No bones of the limbs or other parts beyond the skulls and teeth have been attributed to Dinopithecus, so it is impossible to know its mode of locomotion for certain. However, as a papionin of very large size, it most probably spent a significant amount of time on the ground and moved quadrupedally.

References

References

1. Freedman, Leonard. (1957). "The fossil Cercopithecoidea of South Africa". Annals of the Transvaal Museum.
2. (1979). "Evolutionary history of the primates". Academic Press.
3. Broom R. (1937). On some new Pleistocene mammals from limestone caves of the Transvaal. ''S Afr J Sci'' '''33''', 750-768.
4. Gilbert, Christopher C.. (May 2013). "Cladistic analysis of extant and fossil African papionins using craniodental data". Journal of Human Evolution.
5. Delson, Eric. (1984). "Cercopithecid biochronology of the African Plio-Pleistocene: correlation among eastern and southern hominid-bearing localities". Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg.
6. (2000). "Body mass in Cercopithecidae (Primates, Mammalia): estimation and scaling in extinct and extant taxa". Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History.
7. (September 2018). "Evolution of the modern baboon ( Papio hamadryas ): A reassessment of the African Plio-Pleistocene record". Journal of Human Evolution.
8. G., Fleagle, John. (2013). "Primate adaptation and evolution". Elsevier/Academic Press.
9. (2005). "Utilization of savanna-based resources by Plio-Pleistocene baboons". South African Journal of Science.
10. (August 2005). "Molar microwear and dietary reconstructions of fossil cercopithecoidea from the Plio-Pleistocene deposits of South Africa". Journal of Human Evolution.
11. Benefit, Brenda R. (1999). "Victoriapithecus: The key to Old World monkey and catarrhine origins". Evolutionary Anthropology.

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