''Ouranopithecus turkae'' is a prehistoric

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of ''

Ouranopithecus ''Ouranopithecus'' is a genus of extinct Eurasian great ape represented by two species, '' Ouranopithecus macedoniensis'', a late Miocene (9.6–8.7 mya) hominoid from Greece and '' Ouranopithecus turkae'', also from the late Miocene (8.7–7.4 ...

'' from the

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

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. This is known from the Corakyerler locality,

Çankırı Province Çankırı Province () is a Provinces of Turkey, province of Turkey, which lies close to the capital, Ankara. The provincial capital is Çankırı. Its area is 7,542 km2, and its population is 195,766 (2022). Economy The economy of Çankır� ...

, central

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

. It is known only from three cranial fossils. Dated faunal remains associated with the ''O. turkae'' fossils have been attributed to the late

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

8.7–7.4 million years ago, making ''O. turkae'' one of the youngest Eurasian

great ape The Hominidae (), whose members are known as the great apes or hominids (), are a taxonomic family of primates that includes eight extant species in four genera: '' Pongo'' (the Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutan); '' Gorilla'' (the ...

s ever known. Sevim-Erol ''et al.'' (2023) described ''Anadoluvius turkae'', a new name, based on the mostly complete male

palate The palate () is the roof of the mouth in humans and other mammals. It separates the oral cavity from the nasal cavity. A similar structure is found in crocodilians, but in most other tetrapods, the oral and nasal cavities are not truly sep ...

preserving LI1-M3 and RC-M2 and a series of paratypes. The holotype is CO-205, and paratypes are CO-300 (right M2), CO-305 (male

mandibular In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla). The jawbone i ...

fragment), CO-710 (female mandibular fragment), CO-2100 (right I1), and CO-2800 (female partial

cranium The skull, or cranium, is typically a bony enclosure around the brain of a vertebrate. In some fish, and amphibians, the skull is of cartilage. The skull is at the head end of the vertebrate. In the human, the skull comprises two prominent ...

). The genus name derives from Anadolu, a Turkish denomination that describes something that is Anatolian.

Etymology

''Ouranopithecus turkae'' was so named due to its similarities with its probable sister

taxon In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : 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 name and ...

'' O. macedoniensis''. The species name ''turkae'' acknowledges the discovery of the

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

fossils in the Republic of Turkey.

Habitat

Associated faunal remains suggest ''O. turkae'' lived in either open woodland or an open savannah type environment.

Morphology

The

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

of ''O. turkae'' is difficult to determine due to the complete lack of post-cranial remains. The post-canine dentary is second only to that of

Gigantopithecus ''Gigantopithecus'' ( ) is an extinct genus of ape that lived in southern China from 2 million to approximately 300,000–200,000 years ago during the Early Pleistocene, Early to Middle Pleistocene, represented by one species, ''Gigantopithecus ...

in size, perhaps suggesting a large body size. It is unknown whether the species was sexually dimorphic as there are no known female fossils. The ape was probably a

quadruped Quadrupedalism is a form of locomotion in which animals have four legs that are used to bear weight and move around. An animal or machine that usually maintains a four-legged posture and moves using all four legs is said to be a quadruped (fr ...

but there is no evidence to confirm this.

Diet

Tooth morphology and wear suggest a diet of tough, abrasive food, the kind typically found in the type of environment ''O. turkae'' probably lived in.

Behaviour

The lack of post-cranial remains makes it difficult to determine how ''O. turkae'' behaved. The fossils were not associated with any females of the species so it could be suggested that the males, at least, were solitary. It may also be assumed that ''O. turkae'' climbed trees, possibly to feed or to avoid predation, although their suggested large body size may have made climbing difficult. Some believe ''O. turkae'' was probably a terrestrial forager and did not feed in the trees.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1544197 Hominidae Miocene primates of Asia Prehistoric apes Fossil taxa described in 2007 Prehistoric Anatolia