Anoiapithecus

Anoiapithecus is an extinct genus of ape thought to be closely related to Dryopithecus. Both genera lived during the Miocene, approximately 12 million years ago. Fossil specimens referrable to Anoiapithecus are known from deposits from Spain.

The discoverers describe Anoiapithecus brevirostris as a hominoid (superfamily Hominoidea) in the Dryopithecine tribe. They believe that since it has features of the Kenyapithecines (a sister taxon to the hominids), it must be from near the time that these two groups split. This means that hominids may have evolved in Europe.

The name comes from the Anoia River region in Catalonia, where the fossil was found. It has been given the nickname Lluc, the Catalonian form of the name Luke.