An ape possibly larger than any other from the Miocene but Gigantopithecus? The announcement of a new big ape, a breaking fossil find out of Turkey, is turning heads. Perhaps the day is growing closer for more finds of Gigantopithecus too?

The new fossil great ape discovery appears to be a species of Ouranopithecus, and thus related to the above species, Ouranopithecus macedoniensis.

A team from the departments of Anthropology at the University of Ankara, Ankara, Turkey, and the University of Yüzüncüyil, Department of Anthropology, The Faculty of Science and Letters, Van, Turkey has recovered a fossil ape (as a new species of Ouranopithecus) from the late Miocene locality of Corakyerler, Turkey. After some comparison of these specimens with other examples of Ouranopithecus as well as Orrorin, Sahelanthropus, Ardipithecus, and Australopithecus, the analysis has suggested that Ouranopithecus shows “substantial dentognathic parallelism with Australopithecus.” As a result, the discoverers do not consider these features of Ouranopithecus to indicate placement within the hominid (African ape-human) clade.

The paper (as a pdf) can be located by clicking on its title:

A new great ape from the late Miocene of Turkey.

by Erksin Savas Güleç, Ayla Sevim, Cesur Pehlevan, and Ferhat Kaya

Anthropological Science 115: 153-158, 2007.

Abstract: An adult maxilla and partial mandibles of a hominoid primate recovered from the late Miocene locality of Çorakyerler (central Anatolia) are recognized as a new species of Ouranopithecus, one of the rare western Eurasian hominoids to have survived well into the late Miocene. This species is distinguished from its sister taxon, and likely ancestor Ouranopithecus macedoniensis, by a constellation of dentognathic features. The new species, in which the male postcanine dentition is larger than that of any other Miocene ape besides Gigantopithecus, is associated with evidence indicating an open, dry environment. Dental features of Ouranopithecus apparently evolved in parallel with later Australopithecus, and suggest that Ouranopithecus was adapted to a diet of tough/abrasive foods.