''Pongo hooijeri'' is an extinct species of

orangutan Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genus ...

from the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

. It was named in honor of paleontologist Dirk Albert Hooijer. Fossils of the ape were found in the Tham Hai Cave.

Description

''Pongo hooijeri'' is only known from isolated teeth. In its initial description, it was distinguished from other orangutan species by its generally larger tooth size than living orangutans, as well as a number of morphological characters of the teeth, differing from ''

Pongo pygmaeus Pongo may refer to: Places * Pongo (geography), canyon or narrow gorge in the Upper Amazon * Pongo River (disambiguation), several rivers or estuaries in Africa * Pongo, Kentucky, an unincorporated community * Pongo, Longleng, village in Long ...

'' "in lacking significant crenelation on the occlusal surfaces of the molars and upper premolars, and on the basins of the lower premolars. Incisors are not known. Molar cusp disposition similar to that of ''P. pygmaeus'', but the cusps themselves are puffier and more rounded occlusally as well as on their external slopes. The occlusal surfaces are thus more poorly defined, and the occlusal basins are more constricted."

Taxonomy

Harrison et al. 2014 argued that the species should be considered a junior synonym of the more widespread extinct species ''

Pongo weidenreichi The Chinese orangutan (''Pongo weidenreichi'') is an extinct species of orangutan from the Pleistocene of South China and possibly Southeast Asia. It is known from fossil teeth found in the Sanhe Cave, and Baikong, Juyuan and Queque Caves in Ch ...

.''

References

Pleistocene primates Prehistoric apes Fossil taxa described in 1995 Prehistoric Vietnam Pleistocene mammals of Asia Fossils of Vietnam {{Paleo-primate-stub