Abstract: For the long-term debate whether the hominoids found from the Yunamou basin represented two species, the present study divided the Yuanmou hominoid teeth into two groups of Xiaohe-Zhupeng and Leilao according to their geographical distribution. Further comparisons of dental morphology, metric data and canine shape indices between the two groups were carried out. Our resultsindicate that the teeth of Yuanmou hominoid from different sites are very similar in all the comparisons of present study. No marked differences were found between the two groups. The authors believe that our study does not support the opinion that there are different species of Yuanmou hominoid living in Xiaohe, Zhupeng and Leilao sites.

Key words: Miocene hominoids; Dental traits; Yuanmou; Xiaohe-Zhupeng; Leilao