Rudapithecus
| Rudapithecus Temporal range:
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|---|---|
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Suborder: | Haplorhini |
| Infraorder: | Simiiformes |
| Family: | Hominidae |
| Subfamily: | Homininae |
| Tribe: | †Dryopithecini |
| Genus: | †Rudapithecus Kretzoi, 1969 |
| Species: | †R. hungaricus
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| Binomial name | |
| †Rudapithecus hungaricus Kretzoi, 1969[1]
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Rudapithecus is a chimpanzee-like[2] genus of ape which inhabited Europe during the Late Miocene, around 10 million years ago. One species is known, Rudapithecus hungaricus.[3][4] The generic name "Rudapithecus" comes from where it was discovered, in Rudabánya, Northern Hungary in 1965 and sent to Budapest in 1967.[2] The specific name "hungaricus" refers to the country where it was discovered, in Hungary.
Palaeobiology
[edit]Locomotion
[edit]Rudapithecus probably moved among branches like modern apes do now, holding its body upright, and climbing trees with its arms. Rudapithecus hungaricus differed from modern great apes by having a more flexible lumbar, which indicates when Rudapithecus came down to the ground, it might have had the ability to stand upright like humans do. Modern Gorilla, Pan, and Pongo have a long pelvis, and a short lumbar because they are very large animals, which is why they usually walk on all fours. Humans have a longer, more flexible lumbar, which allow humans to stand upright, and walk efficiently on two legs. It is known that Rudapithecus had a more flexible torso than today's apes, because it was much smaller, about the size of a medium-sized dog.[5]
Palaeoecology
[edit]Dental microwear indicates that both Rudapithecus and its contemporary Anapithecus were frugivorous at the site of Rudabánya. However, Rudapithecus microwear is characterised by higher fractal complexity values, suggesting that it consumed harder fruits than Anapithecus and thus engaged in niche partitioning with the pliopithecid.[6]
References
[edit]- ^ Laszlo Kordos (1987). "Description and reconstruction of the skull of Rudapithecus hungaricus Kretzoi (Mammalia)". Annales Musei historico-naturalis hungarici. 79. Hungarian Natural History Museum. ISSN 0521-4726. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
- ^ a b László Kordos: 50 years of Rudapithecus (in Hungarian)
- ^ University of Missouri (17 September 2019). "Rare 10 million-year-old fossil unearths new view of human evolution". Phys.org. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
- ^ Begun, David (2009). "Dryopithecins, Darwin, de Bonis, and the European origin of the African apes and human clade". Geodiversitas. 3 (1): 789–816. doi:10.5252/g2009n4a789. S2CID 131688092.
- ^ "Rare 10 million-year-old fossil unearths new view of human evolution // Show Me Mizzou // University of Missouri". showme.missouri.edu. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
- ^ Ungar, Peter Stuart; Wilcox, Anna K.; Begun, David R. (24 September 2025). "Dental Microwear and Diets of Late Miocene Primates From Rudabánya, Hungary". American Journal of Biological Anthropology. 188 (1). doi:10.1002/ajpa.70131. ISSN 2692-7691. Retrieved 16 October 2025 – via Wiley Online Library.
- "Rudapithecus of Rudabánya, Hungary". Hungarian Spectrum. 2009-08-16. Archived from the original on March 18, 2015. Retrieved 2020-10-22.
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