Editing Pierolapithecus (section)

== Paleoecology ==
''Pierolapithecus'' bore thick enamel found in hard-object feeders, but its diet is not yet known aside from possibly having fed in trees like orangutans.<ref name="Bezanson-2016" /><ref name="Alba-2010" /> It was discovered at the locality of BCV1,<ref>{{cite journal| last1=Hammond |first1=AS |last2=Alba |first2=DM |last3=Almécija |first3=S |last4=Moyà-Solà |first4=S |year=2013 |title=Middle Miocene hominid ''Pierolapithecus'' provides insight into early hominid pelvic morphology |journal=Paleoanthropology |volume=2013 |issue=2013 |page=A16 |url=https://paleoanthropology.org/ojs/index.php/paleo/article/view/706/667 |issn=1545-0031}}</ref> which formed when the northwestern [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] rifted to form a stretch between two mountain ranges. The proximal to distal-marginal [[Alluvium|alluvial]]-fan sediments cover the Miocene. It was discovered as a fossiliferous area by Guerín in the 1920s with an ape M2 mistaken as a [[Suidae|suid]], followed by the discovery of ''Dryopithecus fontani'', ''[[Hispanopithecus laietanus]]'', and ''[[Sivapithecus|Sivapithecus occidentalis]]'' in the area. From the area hailing ''Pierolapithecus'' specifically was explored from the 1950s&ndash;1970s from a garbage dump. 19 large and small mammals were discovered at the site, almost 300 [[macroinvertebrate]] fossils, and 83 hominid fossils (composing the holotype skeleton).<ref name="Casanovasvilar-2008" />

The [[fauna]] comprises the ''Pierolapithecus'', [[Megaherbivore|megaherbivores]] like elephants, and various others like carnivores, [[Artiodactyl|artiodactyls]], turtles, and small-medium fragments. ''Pierolapithecus'' bears evidence of scavenging whereas the other fossils show signs of being scattered across an alluvial plain. The [[micromammals]] show signs of [[digestion]] by predators, probably by barn owls and others. The environment was quite humid, warm, and forested. The fauna is most like [[France]] and [[central Europe]] in composition. More [[Insectivore|insectivores]], arboreal [[Dormouse|dormice]], and [[Flying squirrel|flying squirrels]] support a humid environment, and the open woodlands of other sites would have made hominid occupation impossible.<ref name="Casanovasvilar-2008" />

That ''Pierolapithecus'' would be ancestral to modern great apes is debated largely because this great ape was found in the [[Iberian Peninsula]], while most of the fossil evidence of the evolution of hominids and hominins has been located in [[East Africa]] and [[Southeast Asia]]. Because the Mediterranean Sea contracted several times in the past, migration of terrestrial fauna between [[Africa]] and [[Europe]] was permitted.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Roegl |first1=Fred |date=1999 |title=Mediterranean and Paratethys. Facts and hypotheses of an Oligocene to Miocene paleogeography (short overview) |journal=Geol. Carpathica |volume=50 |pages=339–349}}</ref>

''Pierolapithecus'', like many other Miocene apes, is predicted to have been [[Polygyny|polygynous]] by its low second-to-fourth digit ratios, which are reflective of high prenatal androgen effects and correlated with polygyny in apes.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nelson |first=Emma |last2=Rolian |first2=Campbell |last3=Cashmore |first3=Lisa |last4=Shultz |first4=Susanne |date=3 November 2010 |title=Digit ratios predict polygyny in early apes, Ardipithecus , Neanderthals and early modern humans but not in Australopithecus |url=https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2010.1740 |journal=[[Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences]] |language=en |volume=278 |issue=1711 |pages=1556–1563 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2010.1740 |issn=0962-8452 |pmc=3081742 |pmid=21047863 |access-date=10 July 2024}}</ref>