Primates from Rudabanya: allocation of specimens to individuals, sex and age categories

Fossil primates have been known from the late Miocene locality of Rudabanya since 1965. Numerous campaigns of collecting, sampling and excavation have been carried out since that time by several teams of researchers, but the sample of primates has never been fully catalogued and published. Here we provide a comprehensive list of all primate specimens from Rudabanya with provenience data and allocation to individuals. At the main locality of R II 16 individuals are attributed to Anapithecus and nine to Dryopithecus, based on dental remains. Anapithecus comes mostly from a layer of gray to black marl and Dryopithecus is found mostly in a less consolidated overlying black mud. However, both taxa are found in both layers. Anapithecus is represented by larger proportions of juveniles and females, and Dryopithecus by more adult and subadult males. Both species are represented primarily by dental remains, but those of Dryopithecus are more commonly associated with mandibles and maxillae, while in Anapithecus most individuals are represented by associated dentitions. Dryopithecus is better represented by postcrania other than phalanges. Anapithecus age and sex frequency distributions are more typical of those of carnivore and chimpanzee prey assemblages than Dryopithecus. (C) 2001 Academic Press.