石块无尾猿在云南省从几个晚中新世的地区被知道,西南的中国,主要从 Shihuiba (Lufeng ) 和 Yuanmou 盆,并且代表 Lufengpithecus 的三种。他们主要包括孤立的牙齿的大样品,但是也从 Yuanmou 从 Shihuiba 和单个少年头盖骨有几部分或完全的成年 crania。这里,我们从终端描述新、相对完全、大部分未失真的少年头盖骨 Shuitangba 的中新世的地区,另外在云南。它仅仅是恢复从的第二无尾猿少年头盖骨欧亚大陆和它中新世暂时地被分到在 Shihuiba 在场的种类, Lufengpithecus lufengensis。Lufengpithecus 最经常从 Shihuiba 被连接了到 crania 的现存猩猩, Pongo pygmaeus,而是最近的研究, Yuanmou 证明了这是不大可能的。新头盖骨增强 Lufengpithecus 代表的看法大无尾猿在的一个不同的、晚幸存的系不看起来仔细隶属于任何现存无尾猿系的东亚晚中新世。它实质地在 Lufengpithecus 增加头部的形态学的知识并且证明这个类的种类代表无尾猿的词法上多样的放射,它与西南的中国在的动态构造、关於生命的周围一致晚中新世。
Fossil apes are known from several late Miocene localities in Yunnan Province, southwestern China, principally from Shihuiba (Lufeng) and the Yuanmou Basin, and represent three species of Lufengpithecus. They mostly comprise large samples of isolated teeth, but there are also several partial or complete adult crania from Shihuiba and a single juvenile cranium from Yuanmou. Here we describe a new, relatively complete and largely undistorted juvenile cranium from the terminal Miocene locality of Shuitangba, also in Yunnan. It is only the second ape juvenile cranium recovered from the Miocene of Eurasia and it is provisionally assigned to the species present at Shihuiba, Lufengpithecus lufengensis. Lufengpithecus has most often been linked to the extant orangutan, Pongo pygmaeus, but recent studies of the crania from Shihuiba and Yuanmou have demonstrated that this is unlikely. The new cranium reinforces the view that Lufengpithecus represents a distinct, late surviving lineage of large apes in the late Miocene of East Asia that does not appear to be closely affiliated with any extant ape lineage. It substantially increases knowledge of cranial morphology in Lufengpithecus and demonstrates that species of this genus represent a morphologically diverse radiation of apes, which is consistent with the dynamic tectonic and biotic milieu of southwestern China in the late Miocene.