Danuvius guggenmosi

Danuvius guggenmosi
Temporal range: Serravallian–Tortonian (c. 11.6 Ma)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Suborder: Haplorhini
Infraorder: Simiiformes
Family: Hominidae
Subfamily: Homininae
Tribe: †Dryopithecini
Genus: †Danuvius
Böhme et al., 2019
Species:
†D. guggenmosi
Binomial name
†Danuvius guggenmosi
Böhme et al., 2019

Danuvius guggenmosi is an extinct species of great ape that lived 11.6 million years ago during the Middle–Late Miocene in southern Germany. It is the sole member of the genus Danuvius. The area at this time was probably a woodland with a seasonal climate. A male specimen was estimated to have weighed about 31 kg (68 lb), and two females 17 and 19 kg (37 and 42 lb). Both genus and species were described in November 2019.[1]

It is the first-discovered Late Miocene great ape with preserved long bones which could be used to reconstruct the limb anatomy and thus the locomotion of contemporary apes. Its discoverer, paleoanthropologist Madelaine Böhme, says Danuvius had adaptations for both hanging in trees (suspensory behavior) and walking on two legs (bipedalism)—whereas, among present-day great apes, humans are better adapted for the latter and the others the former.[1] Danuvius thus had a method of locomotion unlike any previously known ape called "extended limb clambering," she says, walking directly along tree branches as well as using arms for suspending itself. The last common ancestor between humans and other apes possibly had a similar method of locomotion. However, paleoanthropologist Scott Williams and others say the fragmentary remains do not differ enough from other fossil apes to provide such a clue to the origins of bipedalism.[2][3]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Bohme2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Williams, Scott A.; Prang, Thomas C.; Meyer, Marc R.; Russo, Gabrielle A.; Shapiro, Liza J. (2020-09-30). "Reevaluating bipedalism in Danuvius". Nature. 586 (7827): E1–E3. Bibcode:2020Natur.586E...1W. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2736-4. ISSN 1476-4687. S2CID 222146537.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Barras2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).