Wu R K, Oxnard C E
Nature. 1983;306(5940):258-60. doi: 10.1038/306258a0.
Data obtained from ramapithecine specimens found in Asia, Africa and Europe have suggested the existence of two major subgroups, Ramapithecus and Sivapithecus, with Ramapithecus having pre-human status. Recently, however, it has been proposed that the fossils all belong to a single group, Sivapithecus, which is more closely related to the apes, in particular the orang-utan. Here we analyse data from a series of similar fossils which have been found in late Miocene coalfields in Lufeng, Yunnan Province, China. These include a number of almost complete jaws and five partial skulls which are more complete than any others so far known. A statistical analysis of the overall dimensions of the large number of teeth included in these finds shows that the differences between the groups previously assigned to Ramapithecus and Sivapithecus are greater than those found between the sexes in the most sexually dimorphic of the living great apes. Within the groups the distribution is bimodal and we suggest each group contains sex subgroups.
从在亚洲、非洲和欧洲发现的腊玛古猿标本中获取的数据表明存在两个主要亚群，即腊玛古猿和西瓦古猿，其中腊玛古猿具有类人猿的地位。然而，最近有人提出，这些化石都属于一个单一的类群——西瓦古猿，它与猿类，特别是猩猩的关系更为密切。在这里，我们分析了在中国云南省禄丰晚中新世煤田发现的一系列类似化石的数据。这些化石包括一些几乎完整的颌骨和五个部分头骨，它们比迄今为止已知的任何其他头骨都更完整。对这些发现中包含的大量牙齿的整体尺寸进行的统计分析表明，先前归为腊玛古猿和西瓦古猿的类群之间的差异大于现存性二态性最强的大型猿类中两性之间的差异。在这些类群中，分布是双峰的，我们认为每个类群都包含性别亚群。
