An Oreopithecus bambolii jawin the Museum “Giorgio G. Gemmellaro” in Palermo

Abstract

In this contribution we describe a specimen attributed to Oreopithecus bambolii Gervais, 1872 (Primates), preliminarilyreported in the 1990’s by E. Burgio, the then-curator of the Gemmellaro Museum in Palermo. It is a portion of a maxilla bearing the eruptedright second molar, as well as the unerupted right canine and third molar, all excellently preserved. The fragment has been compared withspecimens preserved in the Museum of Paleontology in Florence. It shows an overall appearance and taphonomic features that matchthose of the specimens from the lignite mines near Grosseto in Tuscany. Basic metric surveys and a microCT scan were carried out on thesample. The Museum’s records do not allow us to define precisely how the specimen was acquired, but we report some research carried outin the archives at Palermo and Florence, in relation to a possible exchange that took place in the 1870’s, between the then-directors G.G.Gemmellaro and I. Cocchi