Editing Gigantopithecus (section)

===Research history===
[[Image:F. Schrenk mit Gigantopithecus-Molar 2005.jpg|thumb|left|{{Interlanguage link multi|Friedemann Schrenk|de}} holding the [[holotype]] ''Gigantopithecus blacki'' [[Molar (tooth)|molar]]]]
''Gigantopithecus blacki'' was named by anthropologist [[Ralph von Koenigswald]] in 1935 based on two third lower [[molar teeth]], which, he noted, were of enormous size (the first was "''Ein gewaltig grosser (...) Molar''", the second was described as "''der enorme Grösse besitzt''"), measuring {{convert|20|x|22|mm|abbr=in|frac=8}}.<ref name=Koenigswald1935/> The specific name ''blacki'' is in honour of Canadian palaeoanthropologist [[Davidson Black]], who had studied human evolution in China and had died the previous year. Von Koenigswald, working for the [[Dutch East Indies]] Mineralogical Survey on Java, had found the teeth in a drugstore in [[Hong Kong]] where they were being sold as "[[dragon bones]]" to be used in [[traditional Chinese medicine]]. By 1939, after purchasing more teeth, he determined they had originated somewhere in [[Guangdong]] or [[Guangxi]]. He could not formally describe the [[type specimen]] until 1952 due to his [[internment]] by Japanese forces during [[World War II]]. The originally discovered teeth are part of the collection of the [[University of Utrecht]].<ref name=ZhangHarrison2017/><ref name=Hartwig2002/>

In 1955, a survey team that was led by Chinese palaeontologist [[Pei Wenzhong]] was tasked by the Chinese [[Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology|Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology]] (IVPP) with finding the original ''Gigantopithecus'' locality. They collected 47 teeth among shipments of "dragon bones" in Guangdong and Guangxi. In 1956, the team discovered the first ''[[in situ]]'' remains, a third molar and [[premolar]], in a cave (subsequently named "''Gigantopithecus'' Cave") in [[Niusui Mountain]], Guangxi. Also in 1956, [[Liucheng County|Liucheng]] farmer Xiuhuai Qin discovered more teeth and the first [[mandible]] on his field. From 1957 to 1963, the IVPP survey team carried out excavations in this area and recovered two more mandibles and more than 1,000 teeth.<ref name=ZhangHarrison2017/><ref name="Hartwig2002"/><ref name="Coichon1991">{{cite journal |last=Coichon |first=Russell L. |author-link=Russell Ciochon |year=1991 |title=The ape that was – Asian fossils reveal humanity's giant cousin |url=http://www.uiowa.edu/~bioanth/giganto.html |url-status=unfit |journal=Natural History |volume=100 |pages=54–62 |issn=0028-0712 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150525202625/http://www.uiowa.edu/~bioanth/giganto.html |archive-date=25 May 2015}}</ref><ref name="Poirier1999">{{cite book| first1=F.E. |last1=Poirier |first2=J.K. |last2=McKee | title=Understanding Human Evolution |edition= fourth | publisher=Prentice Hall |location=Upper Saddle River, New Jersey |year=1999| page=119 |isbn=0-13-096152-3}}</ref> In 2014, a fourth confirmed mandible was discovered in [[Yanliang]], Central China.<ref name=Zhang2014>{{cite journal|first1=Y.|last1=Zhang|first2=C.|last2=Jin|display-authors=et al.|year=2015|title=A fourth mandible and associated dental remains of ''Gigantopithecus blacki'' from the Early Pleistocene Yanliang Cave, Fusui, Guangxi, South China|journal=Historical Biology|volume=28|issue=1–2|pages=95–104|doi=10.1080/08912963.2015.1024115|s2cid=130928802}}</ref> Indicated by extensive [[rodent]] gnawing marks, teeth primarily accumulated in caves likely due to [[Old World porcupine|porcupine]] activity. Porcupines gnaw on bones to obtain nutrients necessary for quill growth, and can haul large bones into their underground dens and consume them entirely, except the hard, enamel-capped crowns of teeth. This may explain why teeth are typically found in great quantity, and why remains other than teeth are so rare.<ref name=ZhangHarrison2017>{{cite journal|last1= Zhang|first1= Y.|last2= Harrison|first2= T.|title= ''Gigantopithecus blacki'': a giant ape from the Pleistocene of Asia revisited|journal= American Journal of Physical Anthropology|volume= 162|issue= S63|year= 2017|pages= 153–177|doi= 10.1002/ajpa.23150|doi-access= free|pmid= 28105715}}</ref>

Confirmed ''Gigantopithecus'' remains have since been found in 16 different sites across southern China. The northernmost sites are {{ill|Longgupo|de|Longgupo-Höhle}} and [[Longgu Cave]], just south of the [[Yangtze River]], and southernmost on Hainan Island in the [[South China Sea]]. An isolated canine from [[Thẩm Khuyên Cave]], Vietnam, and a fourth premolar from [[Pha Bong]], Thailand, could possibly be assigned to ''Gigantopithecus'', though these could also represent the extinct orangutan ''[[Pongo weidenreichi]]''.<ref name=ZhangHarrison2017/> Two mandibular fragments each preserving the last two molars from {{ill|Semono|nl}} in [[Central Java]], Indonesia, described in 2016 could represent ''Gigantopithecus''.<ref name=Sofwan2016>{{cite journal |last=Sofwan |first=N. |year=2016 |title=Primata Besar di Jawa: Spesimen Baru ''Gigantopithecus'' dari Semedo|trans-title=Giant Primate of Java: A new ''Gigantopithecus'' specimen from Semedo|journal=Berkala Arkeologi |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=141–160 |doi=10.30883/jba.v36i2.241 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323630558 |display-authors=et al. |doi-access=free }}</ref> The oldest remains date to 2.2 million years ago from [[Baikong Cave]], and the youngest to 295 to 215 thousand years ago from [[Shuangtan Cave|Shuangtan]] and [[Gongjishan Cave]]s.<ref name="NAT-20240110"/>