Dionysopithecidae is an extinct family of fossil
catarrhines and the earliest-known and most primitive members of the
Pliopithecoidea superfamily, with fossils in
Sihong,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
dating to 18–17 million years ago for species ''
Dionysopithecus shuangouensis'' and ''
Platodontopithecus jianghuaiensis''.
A single lower
molar found in
Ban San Klang in
Thailand
Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
is similar to those found in Sihong but sufficiently different to be considered a different species, ''
Dionysopithecus orientalis''.
They are sometimes treated as a subfamily of
Pliopithecidae as 'Dionysopithecinae'.
References
* The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Prehistoric World page 434.
Pliopithecoidea
Miocene primates of Asia
Pliocene primates
Miocene extinctions
Prehistoric apes
†Pliopithecidae
Prehistoric mammal families
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