''Ouranopithecus macedoniensis'' is a prehistoric

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

of '' Ouranopithecus'' from the

Late Miocene The Late Miocene (also known as Upper Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene Epoch made up of two stages. The Tortonian and Messinian stages comprise the Late Miocene sub-epoch, which lasted from 11.63 Ma (million years ago) to 5.333 Ma. The ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

. See more detail at '' Ouranopithecus''. This species is known from three localities in Northern Greece. The type location is Ravin de la Pluie. The other localities are

Chalkidiki Chalkidiki (; el, Χαλκιδική , also spelled Halkidiki, is a peninsula and regional unit of Greece, part of the region of Central Macedonia, in the geographic region of Macedonia in Northern Greece. The autonomous Mount Athos region co ...

and

Xirochori Xirochori ( el, Ξηροχώρι, before 1926: Γιόρδινον - ''Giordinon'', ) is a community and a village in the municipal unit of Agios Athanasios in the Thessaloniki regional unit, Greece. The community is 25 km north-northwest o ...

. It is known from a large collection of cranial fossils and few postcranial. The material has been dated to the late Miocene 9.6 – 8.7 million years old, so slightly earlier than '' O. turkae''. To some this suggests ''O. turkae'' is the direct descendant of ''O. macedoniensis'', although it is generally accepted that they are sister

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...

Etymology

The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bo ...

''macedoniensis'' is due to the holotype fossil's discovery location in Macedonia, Greece.

Habitat

Examination of dental remains of ''O. macedoniensis'' and associated bovid species indicate a habitat of low tree cover and a rich herbaceous layer.

Morphology

''O. macedoniensis'' had a large, broad face with a prominent supraorbital

torus In geometry, a torus (plural tori, colloquially donut or doughnut) is a surface of revolution generated by revolving a circle in three-dimensional space about an axis that is coplanar with the circle. If the axis of revolution does n ...

. It also had square-shaped orbits. ''O. macedoniensis'' may have had a relatively large body size. The postcranial evidence is thin, but the dentition of ''O. macedoniensis'' suggests extreme sexual dimorphism, a far higher degree than that seen in any extant great ape. The ape was probably a quadruped. It is not possible to postulate on how ''O. macedoniensis'' used the trees but it seems likely that it did. ''O. macedoniensiss molar enamel cover was fairly thick and had low cusps. The

male Male (symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or ovum, in the process of fertilization. A male organism cannot reproduce sexually without access to ...

''O. macedoniensis'' had large

canine teeth In mammalian oral anatomy, the canine teeth, also called cuspids, dog teeth, or (in the context of the upper jaw) fangs, eye teeth, vampire teeth, or vampire fangs, are the relatively long, pointed teeth. They can appear more flattened howeve ...

with shearing lower

premolar The premolars, also called premolar teeth, or bicuspids, are transitional teeth located between the canine and molar teeth. In humans, there are two premolars per quadrant in the permanent set of teeth, making eight premolars total in the mouth ...

Diet

Based on the heavily pitted surface of the second molar of ''Ouranopithecus macedoniensis'', it is assumed that its diet consisted of harder foods such as nuts or

tubers Tubers are a type of enlarged structure used as storage organs for nutrients in some plants. They are used for the plant's perennation (survival of the winter or dry months), to provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growing s ...

Behaviour

Behaviour is very difficult to infer in species with such a small diversity of fossil remains. The large body size may have made climbing difficult in some aspects so it may have been a terrestrial forager but this is speculation within the literature.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q140198 Miocene primates of Europe Prehistoric apes Fossil taxa described in 1977 Prehistoric Greece