The evolutionary context of the first hominins), copyright (2011) Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: (Wood, B., Harrison, T. Oreopithecus bambolii skeleteon IGF 11778, "Sandrone”. These changing phylogenetic interpretations were partially caused by the complex combination of ancestral, modern and very derived characters shown by their remains. Although it is now considered a hominoid, during part of the last century some authors interpreted it as an Old World monkey (the group comprising macaques and baboons, among others), and even considered as an early hominin (the group that includes humans and their fossil ancestors). Although Oreopithecus is the most well known European hominoid fossil thanks to well-preserved postcranial remains (skeletal parts that are not part of the skull), its classification has been controversial over the years among the scientific community. The most complete skeleton was discovered in 1958 in a coal-mine and belongs to an adult male of about 30 kilos nicknamed "Sandrone". Oreopithecus bambolii is a hominoid species that lived between 8.2 and 6.7 million years ago in the area that is now part of Tuscany and Sardinia (Italy). The finding was published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology by Sergio Almécija, associated researcher at the Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP). Such adaptation would have improved their ability to obtain and process food manually in the insular environment with limited resources where this species lived about 7 million years ago. The study of the distal phalanx of the thumb of the fossil hominoid Oreopithecus bambolii has revealed that this species had the ability to grasp objects with precision between the fingers like humans do, with a much higher accuracy than the extant and fossil hominoids can perform. Diferents vistes de dues falanges distals d'Oreopithecus bambolii
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