Oreopithecus

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Oreopithecus (from the Greek ὄρος, oros and πίθηκος, pithekos, meaning "hill-ape") is an extinct genus of ape from the Miocene epoch whose fossils have been found in today's Tuscany and Sardinia in Italy. It existed 9–7 million years ago in that region when it formed an isolated island in a chain of islands stretching from central Europe to northern Africa in what was becoming the Mediterranean Sea. Oreopithecus was one of many European immigrants that settled this area in the Vallesian–Turolian transition and one of few hominoids, together with Sivapithecus in Asia, to survive the so-called Vallesian Crisis. To date, dozens of individuals have been discovered at the Tuscan localities of Montebamboli, Montemassi, Casteani, Ribolla and, most notably, in the fossil-rich lignite mine in the Baccinello Basin, making it one of the best-represented fossil apes. Oreopithecus bambolii was first described by French paleontologist Paul Gervais in 1872, after the discovery of a juvenile mandible in a lignite mine at Montebamboli in 1862 by Tito Nardi, who donate the specimen to Professor Igino Cocchi. In 1890, nearly a dozen new specimens were reported by Guiseppe Ristori, among them an upper jaw. In 1898, a left lower jaw was described by Felice Ottolenghi. In 1907, Giuseppe Merciai reported four maxillae and a lower jaw from the Grosseto mine at Ribolla. During this period there was no consensus whether Oreopithecus was a monkey or an ape. From 1949 onwards, Swiss paleontologist Johannes Hürzeler began to restudy the known material.