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Handbook of Paleoanthropology pp 1347–1377Cite as

1 Potential Hominoid Ancestors for Hominidae

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Abstract

The origin of hominids and especially man is a question that has occupied and still occupies scientists. There are a number of discussions and disagreements, and each new finding creates new problems, discussions, and arguments. This article aims to give all available information about the potential hominoid ancestor of the hominids, using all recent data. Certainly, it does not solve the problem but provides an approach summarizing the known data and ideas. Oligocene Aegyptopithecus seems to be the possible ancestor of the Miocene hominoids as it shares some derived features with the early hominoids. The early Miocene hominoids Proconsul is the most possible link connecting the hominoids to the modern great apes and humans. Among the Late Miocene hominoids, Ouranopithecus seems to be closer to the hominids and extant great apes. However, the African Sahelanthropus and Orrorin seem to have some relationship to the Plio-Pleistocene hominids.

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Acknowledgments

I wish to thank very much Prof. W. Henke, Prof. H. Rothe, and Prof. I. Tattersall, editors of the present Handbook of Paleoanthropology, who invited me to participate as an author. Many thanks are also due to Dr. I. Sylvestrou for her nice work on Figures 1.1 and 1.4–1.6. I also thank Dr. P. Andrews and Dr. D. Begun for reading the manuscripts and making useful comments.

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  1. George D. Koufos
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© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York

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Koufos, G.D. (2007). 1 Potential Hominoid Ancestors for Hominidae. In: Handbook of Paleoanthropology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-33761-4_44

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