The first pongine genera appear in theMiocene,Sivapithecus andKhoratpithecus,[4][5] six or seven million years before evidence of orangutans was found fromPleistocene southeast Asia and southern China.[6] Ponginae may also include the generaLufengpithecus,Ankarapithecus, andGigantopithecus. However, phylogenetic analysis in 2004, which originally foundLufengpithecus andAnkarapithecus to be most closely related to the orangutan, gave different results "under an analytical method that attempted to reduce stratigraphic incongruence",[7] instead placing them on the base of the stem of the African ape-human clade.[4]
Meganthropus was considered by the majority of paleoanthropologists as falling within the variation ofHomo erectus. However, a study from 2019 of tooth morphology foundMeganthropus a valid genus of non-hominin hominid ape, most closely related toLufengpithecus[8]
The most well-known fossil genus of Ponginae isSivapithecus, consisting of several species from 12.5 million to 8.5 million years ago. It differs from orangutans in dentition and postcranial morphology.[7]
^Bacon, A. M.; The Long, V. (2001). "The first discovery of a complete skeleton of a fossil orang-utan in a cave of the Hoa Binh Province, Vietnam".Journal of Human Evolution.41 (3):227–241.Bibcode:2001JHumE..41..227B.doi:10.1006/jhev.2001.0496.PMID11535001.
