Taxonomy and phylogeny

See also: Orangutan–human last common ancestor

The orangutan was first described scientifically in 1758 in the Systema Naturae of Carl
Linnaeus as Homo Sylvestris.[6]: 20  It was renamed Simia pygmaeus in 1760 by his student Christian
Emmanuel Hopp and given the name Pongo by Lacépède in 1799.[6]: 24–25  The populations on the two
islands were suggested to be separate species when P. abelii was described by French
naturalist René Lesson in 1827.[15] In 2001, P. abelii was confirmed as a full species based on
molecular evidence published in 1996, [16][17]: 53 [18] and three distinct populations on Borneo were
elevated to subspecies (P. p. pygmaeus, P. p. morio and P. p. wurmbii).[19] The description in 2017 of
a third species, P. tapanuliensis, from Sumatra south of Lake Toba, came with a surprising twist: it is
more closely related to the Bornean species, P. pygmaeus than to its fellow Sumatran species, P.
abelii.[18]

Flanged male Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutans

The Sumatran orangutan genome was sequenced in January 2011. [20][21] Following humans
and chimpanzees, the Sumatran orangutan became the third species of great ape to have its
genome sequenced. Subsequently, the Bornean species had its genome sequenced. Genetic
diversity was found to be lower in Bornean orangutans (P. pygmaeus) than in Sumatran ones
(P. abelii), despite the fact that Borneo is home to six or seven times as many orangutans as
Sumatra. The researchers hope these data may help conservationists save the endangered ape,
and also prove useful in further understanding of human genetic diseases.[21] Similarly to gorillas and
chimpanzees, orangutans have 48 diploid chromosomes, in contrast to humans, which have 46.[22]: 9 
According to molecular evidence, within apes (superfamily Hominoidea), the gibbons diverged
during the early Miocene between 24.1 and 19.7 million years ago (mya), and the orangutans
diverged from the African great ape lineage between 19.3 and 15.7 mya. Israfil and colleagues
(2011) estimated based on mitochondrial, Y-linked, and X-linked loci that the Sumatran and Bornean
species diverged 4.9 to 2.9 mya.[23]: Fig. 4  By contrast, the 2011 genome study suggested that these two
species diverged around 400,000 years ago, more recently than was previously thought. Also, the
orangutan genome was found to have evolved much more slowly than chimpanzee and human
DNA.[21] A 2017 genome study found that the Bornean and Tapanuli orangutans diverged from
Sumatran orangutans about 3.4 mya, and from each other around 2.4 mya. Orangutans travelled
from Sumatra to Borneo as the islands were connected by land bridges as parts of Sundaland
during recent glacial periods when sea levels were much lower. The present range of Tapanuli
orangutans is thought to be close to where ancestral orangutans first entered what is now Indonesia
from mainland Asia.[18][24]

Taxonomy of genus Pongo[25] Phylogeny

 Hominoidea  
Genus Pongo    
  Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus)
o Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus – northwest populations
o Pongo pygmaeus morio – east populations
o Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii – southwest populations
 Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii – Sumatra northwest of Lake Toba)
 Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis – Sumatra south of Lake Toba)

Fossil skull of Sivapithecus sivalensis, an extinct relative of orangutan

Fossil record
The three orangutan species are the only extant members of the subfamily Ponginae. This subfamily
also included the extinct genera Lufengpithecus, which lived in southern China and Thailand 8–
2 mya,[17]: 50  Indopithecus, which lived in India from 9.2 to 8.6 mya; and Sivapithecus, which lived in
India and Pakistan from 12.5 mya until 8.5 mya.[26] These apes likely lived in drier and cooler
environments than orangutans do today. Khoratpithecus piriyai, which lived in Thailand 5–7 mya, is
believed to be the closest known relative of the orangutans. [17]: 50  The largest known
primate, Gigantopithecus, was also a member of Ponginae and lived in China, from 2 mya to
300,000 years ago.[27][17]: 50 
The oldest known record of Pongo is from the Early Pleistocene of Chongzuo, consisting of teeth
ascribed to extinct species P. weidenreichi.[28][29] Pongo is found as part of the faunal complex in the
Pleistocene cave assemblage in Vietnam, alongside Giganopithecus, though it is known only from
teeth. Some fossils described under the name P. hooijeri have been found in Vietnam, and multiple
fossil subspecies have been described from several parts of southeastern Asia. It is unclear if these
belong to P. pygmaeus or P. abelii or, in fact, represent distinct species.[30] During the
Pleistocene, Pongo had a far more extensive range than at present, extending
throughout Sundaland and mainland Southeast Asia and South China. Teeth of orangutans are
known from Peninsular Malaysia that date to 60,000 years ago. The range of orangutans had
contracted significantly by the end of the Pleistocene, most likely because of the reduction of forest
habitat during the Last Glacial Maximum.Though they may have survived into the Holocene in
Cambodia and Vietnam.[28][31]