The family Pliopithecidae is an extinct family of fossil catarrhines and members of the Pliopithecoidea superfamily.
Their anatomy combined primitive features such as a small braincase, a long snout, and a tail. At the same time, they possessed more advanced features such as stereoscopic vision and ape-like teeth and jaws, clearly distinguishing them from monkeys.
Begun and Harrison divide the Pliopithecidae into subfamilies Pliopithecinae and Crouzeliinae. Dionysopithecinae are sometimes placed here as a subfamily, but Begun & Harrison place them in their own family, the Dionysopithecidae.
Palaeoecology
Pliopithecids had a clear habitat preference for warm and humid habitats.5
- The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Prehistoric World page 434.
References
Palmer, D., ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. pp. 290–291. ISBN 1-84028-152-9. 1-84028-152-9 ↩
Harrison, Terry (2012). "Chapter 20 Catarrhine Origins". In Begun, David (ed.). A Companion To Paleoanthropology. Wiley Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-118-33237-5. Alt URL 978-1-118-33237-5 ↩
Harrison, T; Gu, Y (1999). "Taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships of early Miocene catarrhines from Sihong, China". Journal of Human Evolution. 37 (2): 225. Bibcode:1999JHumE..37..225H. doi:10.1006/jhev.1999.0310. https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=143129 ↩
Harrison, Terry (2012). "Chapter 20 Catarrhine Origins". In Begun, David (ed.). A Companion To Paleoanthropology. Wiley Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-118-33237-5. Alt URL 978-1-118-33237-5 ↩
Kaakinen, Anu; Abdul Aziz, Hayfaa; Passey, Benjamin H.; Zhang, Zhaoqun; Liu, Liping; Salminen, Johanna; Wang, Lihua; Krijgsman, Wout; Fortelius, Mikael (15 March 2015). "Age and stratigraphic context of Pliopithecus and associated fauna from Miocene sedimentary strata at Damiao, Inner Mongolia, China". Journal of Asian Earth Sciences. 100: 78–90. doi:10.1016/j.jseaes.2014.12.014. Retrieved 10 January 2025 – via Elsevier Science Direct. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1367912015000097 ↩