Morphometric affinities of<i>Gigantopithecus</i>

Abstract

Multivariate analyses, supplemented by univariate statistical methods, of measurements from mandibular tooth crown dimensions and the mandible of Gigantopithecus blacki, G. bilaspurensis, Plio-Plelstocene hominids, Homo erectus, and seven Neogene ape species from the genera Proconsul, Sivapithecus, Ouranopithecus, and Dryopithecus were used to assess the morphometric affinities of Gigantopithecus. The results show that Gigantopithecus displays affinities to Ouranopithecus and to the hominids, particularly the Plio-Plelstocene hominids, rather than to the apes. Ouranopithecus demonstrated dental resemblances to G. bilaspurensis and the Plio-Pleistocene hominids but mandibular similarities to the apes. Results of analyses of tooth and mandibular shape indices, combined with multivariate distance and temporal relationships, suggest that Ouranopithecus is a more likely candidate for Gigantopithecus ancestry than is Silvapithecus indicus. Shape and allometric differences between G. bilaspurensis and the robust australopithecines weaken the argument for an ancestral-descendant relationship between these groups. The results support the hypothesis that Gigantopithecus is an extinct side branch of the Hominidae.