Pliopithecidae

The Pliopithecidae were an extinct family of primates that lived in Europe during the Miocene Epoch (23 to 5.3 million years ago). The most well-known genus within this family is Pliopithecus. Fossils of Pliopithecus suggest it was a quadrupedal primate with a tail, possessing characteristics similar to New World monkeys.1

While once thought to be ancestral gibbons, current understanding places pliopithecids as a distinct lineage that diverged from primitive catarrhines even before the Proconsulidae family emerged. Their ancestors separated from the catarrhine line before the Proconsulidae became distinct.1