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Gigantopithecus blacki (Primates, Ponginae) from the Lang Trang Cave (Northern Vietnam): The Latest Gigantopithecus in the Late Pleistocene?

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Abstract

The dental remains of Gigantopithecus blacki von Koenigswald, 1935 (a complete right m2 with roots and distal fragment of left m2 crown) from the Upper Pleistocene deposits of the Lang Trang cave in northern Vietnam (Thanh Hoa Province) are described. It is the first record of Gigantopithecus in the Upper Pleistocene of Vietnam and, apparently, the second one in the Upper Pleistocene in general (considering material from Shuangtan cave in southern China). Probably, the extinction of G. blacki was confined to the Middle–Late Pleistocene transition, and the specimens from the Lang Trang cave belong to one of the latest relict populations of Gigantopithecus.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors thank N.V. Serdyuk, A.A. Lozovsky (PIN), I.V. Golovachev (Astrakhan State University), and Pham Mai Phuong (Institute of Tropical Ecology of the Joint Russian-Vietnamese Tropical Scientific and Technological Center, Hanoi) for taking part in the collection of fossil material in 2021, A.N. Kuznetsov and S.P. Kuznetsova (Tropical Center) for their help in organizing the expedition, and R.A. Rakitov, S.V. Bagirov, and A.M. Kuznetsov (PIN) for their help in preparing illustrations. The expedition received great help from the administration staff of the Dien Ha (Điền Hạ) Commune of the Ba Thuoc District, Thanh   Hoa Province: Cao Minh Quang, Committee Chairman; Ha Van Chu, Head of Cultural Management Department; Le Van Su, Deputy Head of Culture and Information Department, as well as from the commune residents Pham Van Thay and Pham Van Tien. The authors are especially grateful to P.Yu. Parkhaev (PIN) for identifying fossil mollusks from the Lang Trang cave.

Funding

This study was performed in the framework of the work of the Joint Russian–Vietnamese Tropical Scientific and Technological Center, research project “The Composition of the Fauna of Primates (Cercopithecidae, Pongidae) and Rodents (Rodentia) of the Pleistocene and Holocene of Vietnam as an Indicator of Environmental Change.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Borissiak Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 117647, Moscow, Russia

    A. V. Lopatin & E. N. Maschenko

  2. Joint Russian-Vietnamese Tropical Scientific and Technological Center, Hanoi, Vietnam

    E. N. Maschenko

  3. Institute of Tropical Ecology, Joint Russian-Vietnamese Tropical Scientific and Technological Center, Hanoi, Vietnam

    Le Xuan Dac

Authors
  1. A. V. Lopatin
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  2. E. N. Maschenko
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  3. Le Xuan Dac
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Correspondence to A. V. Lopatin.

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The study does not contain any research involving animals or humans.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Translated by D. Ponomarenko

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Lopatin, A.V., Maschenko, E.N. & Dac, L.X. Gigantopithecus blacki (Primates, Ponginae) from the Lang Trang Cave (Northern Vietnam): The Latest Gigantopithecus in the Late Pleistocene?. Dokl Biol Sci 502, 6–10 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0012496622010069

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