Dryopithecus
Americannoun
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an extinct genus of generalized hominoids that lived in Europe and Africa during the Miocene Epoch and whose members are characterized by small molars and incisors.
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one of the four subgenera of this genus, limited to Europe.
Etymology
Origin of Dryopithecus
< New Latin (1856) < Greek drŷ ( s ) tree, oak + -o- -o- + píthēkos monkey
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Much later—by 14 million years ago—the Dryopithecus line had split into three branches.
From Time Magazine Archive
Dryopithecus, a big forest ape that lived in the Siwalik hills of India in Miocene times, before the Glacial Age, is the common ancestor of man, the gorilla, the chimpanzee, and other primates.
From Time Magazine Archive
Most anthropologists believe man descended from a generalized type of Dryopithecus.
From Time Magazine Archive
One molar which he was able to examine closely showed close affinities to Dryopithecus, a well-known genus of extinct apes.
From Time Magazine Archive
Lartet, E., comparison of cranial capacities of skulls of recent and tertiary mammals; on the size of the brain in mammals; on Dryopithecus; on pre-historic flutes.
From The Descent of Man by Darwin, Charles
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
