Lufengpithecus (from Lufeng County, and Ancient Greek πίθηκος (píthēkos), meaning "ape, monkey") is an extinct genus of ape, known from the Late Miocene of East Asia. It is known from thousands of dental remains and a few skulls and probably weighed about 50 kg (110 lb). It contains three species: L. lufengensis, L. hudienensis and L. keiyuanensis. Lufengpithecus lufengensis is from the Late Miocene found in China, named after the Lufeng site and dated around 6.2 Ma. Lufengpithecus is either thought to be the sister group to Ponginae, or the sister to the clade containing Ponginae and Homininae.

Like Sivapithecus, Lufengpithecus had heavy molars and large canine teeth. The lower third premolars sometimes have a slight second cusp, denoting a shift from their principal role as cutting teeth in other ape species.^{[citation needed]}

While Lufengpithecus is generally considered to be a primitive pongine by most Western observers, Chinese scientists have noted a set of features that are more reminiscent of hominines. These include a broad interorbital distance, an "African" subnasal morphology, frontal sinuses, and a number of dental similarities. Also, basicranial and postcranial remains indicate it may have had adaptations for a significant degree of bipedalism. The ultimate position of Lufengpithecus in hominoid phylogeny requires more research.^{[citation needed]}

A single mandibular fragment with P4 and M1 from the site of Longgupo in Sichuan, China, originally assigned to the genus Homo, has been argued to be similar to Lufengpithecus, suggesting the genus may have survived until as recently as two million years ago, possibly overlapping with both Gigantopithecus and ancient Pongo in the region. One of the original authors who assigned the Longgupo specimen to Homo now considers it to be a "mystery ape".

A possibly related species from Thailand was assigned to the genus Khoratpithecus under the specific name chiangmuanensis. The species is known only from teeth, which appear to be intermediate in morphology between Sivapithecus and modern orangutans. The species lived about 10 million years ago and may have been the ancestor of modern orangutans.

There are three known species of Lufengpithecus: L. keiyuanensis from near Kaiyuan in the Xiaolongtan Basin (10-11mya), L. hudienensis from Yuanmou Basin (7.1-8.2mya), and L. lufengensis from Shihuiba in the Lufeng Basin (6.2-6.9mya). Some argue that this taxa is a distinct clade of late Miocene East Asian hominoids that are not closely related to any extant taxa. In fact, compared to YV0999 (a cranium of L. hudienensis from Yuanmou), there may have been a high degree of local endemism of apes during this time, due to the wide differences between the two species. This fits with the topographic data of Southwest China at the time, which was subject to uplift and erosion, which created the complex topography of mountain ranges and basins that is still present in current day.

Lufengpithecus lufengensis is an extinct ape recovered from lignite (soft coal) beds at the Shihuiba Locality in Lufeng County, Yunnan, China, dating to the latest Miocene. It was originally thought to represent two distinct species, Sivapithecus yunnanensis, thought to be an ancestor of Pongo (orangutans), and Ramapithecus lufengensis, thought to be an early human ancestor. The recognition in the 1980s that "Ramapithecus" fossils were females of Sivapithecus led to the creation of the new genus and species Lufengpithecus lufengensis to accommodate the large collection of hominoid fossils recovered at Lufeng in the 1970s. The species was recognized to have a very large degree of sexual dimorphism, more comparable to that seen in cercopithecoid monkeys than in any living ape. The fossil remains from Shihuiba included a number of relatively complete but badly crushed crania of both male and female specimens.

A series of excavations were done between 1975 and 1983 which recovered five skulls, tens of mandibles, hundreds of isolated teeth and some post-cranial bones of the species.