''Bunopithecus'' is an
extinct genus of
primate
Primates are a diverse order (biology), order of mammals. They are divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include the Tarsiiformes, tarsiers and ...
represented by one species, ''Bunopithecus sericus'', a
gibbon
Gibbons () are apes in the family Hylobatidae (). The family historically contained one genus, but now is split into four extant genera and 20 species. Gibbons live in subtropical and tropical rainforest from eastern Bangladesh to Northeast Indi ...
or gibbon-like ape. Its remains were first discovered in
Sichuan
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of th ...
,
China, in strata from the
Middle Pleistocene
The Chibanian, widely known by its previous designation of Middle Pleistocene, is an Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale or a Stage (stratigraphy), stage in chronostratigraphy, being a division of the Pleistocene Epoch withi ...
.
Although the three
hoolock gibbon
The hoolock gibbons are three primate species of genus ''Hoolock'' in the gibbon family, Hylobatidae, native to eastern Bangladesh, Northeast India, Myanmar, and Southwest China.
Description
Hoolocks are the second-largest of the gibbons, after ...
species were once included in the genus ''Bunopithecus'', they have recently been removed and ''B. sericus'' remains as the only known species of this genus.
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]
References
Prehistoric apes
Pleistocene primates
Pleistocene mammals of Asia
†Brunopithecus
Fossil taxa described in 1923
Monotypic prehistoric primate genera
Prehistoric primate genera
{{Paleo-primate-stub