Ramapithecus

American  

[rah-muh-pith-i-kuhs, -puh-thee-kuhs] / ˌrɑ məˈpɪθ ɪ kəs, -pəˈθi kəs /

noun

1. a genus of extinct Miocene ape known from fossils found in India and Pakistan and formerly thought to be a possible human ancestor.

---

Etymology

Origin of Ramapithecus

< New Latin (1934), equivalent to Sanskrit Rāma Rama + Greek píthēkos ape

Example Sentences

Subsequent DNA analysis has revealed the split occurred long after that – Ramapithecus is now considered an orangutan ancestor.

From The Guardian • Feb. 12, 2018

In the 1960s, fossil evidence led palaeontologists to conclude that a 14m-year-old ape, Ramapithecus, was the earliest ancestor on the human line, based on the shape of its jaw.

From The Guardian • Feb. 12, 2018

In one case from more than 30 years ago, scientists thought that 12-million-year-old Asian fossils from a creature called Ramapithecus belonged to a hominid until further finds pegged it as an orangutan ancestor.

From US News • Feb. 17, 2011

A third branch gave rise to Ramapithecus, which most anthropologists believe was a distant ancestor of man.

From Time Magazine Archive

Ramapithecus had a V-shaped upper jaw more similar to human form than to the U-shaped jaws of modern gorillas, orangs, chimpanzees.

From Time Magazine Archive