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The Fossil Record of the Miocene Hominoids (Mammalia: Primates: Hominoidea) in Greece

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Fossil Vertebrates of Greece Vol. 1

Abstract

The informal group “Miocene hominoids” comprises a primate group of special interest as it is considered including the common ancestor of the modern great apes and humans. The group appeared at the beginning of the Miocene in Africa and then dispersed in the Old World with several taxa. In Greece the Miocene hominoids are known by two taxa. The oldest evidence is the latest Miocene Graecopithecus freybergi, found near Athens. The second taxon was originally described from Axios Valley (Macedonia, Greece) as Ouranopithecus macedoniensis and later discovered in other two localities of N. Greece, all late Miocene age. Ouranopithecus macedoniensis shares some derived features with australopiths and humans, and it could be a potential ancestral form of the African great apes and human clade.

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Acknowledgments

Many thanks to J. Fuss for providing the photo of Graecopithecus freybergi. I would also like to thank D. Youlatos for comments that improved this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, Laboratory of Geology and Paleontology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

    George D. Koufos

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  1. George D. Koufos
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Correspondence to George D. Koufos .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Museo Paleontólogico Egidio Feruglio, CONICET, Trelew, Argentina

    Evangelos Vlachos

Appendix

Appendix

List of Greek fossil localities containing Miocene hominoid fossils. Type localities are marked with bold. Locality numbers refer to the collection numbers of the PaleoBiology Database (PBDB)

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Koufos, G.D. (2022). The Fossil Record of the Miocene Hominoids (Mammalia: Primates: Hominoidea) in Greece. In: Vlachos, E. (eds) Fossil Vertebrates of Greece Vol. 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68398-6_18

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