Rudapithecus is a chimpanzee-like genus of extinct great apes from the Late Miocene boundary of Europe 10 million years ago (mya). This genus contains one species, Rudapithecus hungaricus.

Rudapithecus is often classified among the Miocene dryopithecine apes in the subfamily Dryopithecinae and displays a combination of anatomical features seen in modern African apes, including aspects of the skull and teeth. Because of these similarities, it is considered an important fossil for understanding the evolution and biogeography of the ancestors of modern great apes and humans during the Miocene.

The first publication of Rudapithecus was in 1969 by Miklós Kretzoi and included a short diagnosis of the genus. Although there were publications of Rudapithecus as early as 1967 in newspapers, these were short and included no diagnosis or type specimen which is why it is considered that the genus was first described Miklós Kretzoi in 1969.

The genus name Rudapithecus comes from where it was discovered, in Rudabánya, Northern Hungary, in 1965 and sent to Budapest in 1967. The specific name "hungaricus" refers to Hungary, where it was discovered. The suffix "pithecus" derives from Greek "pithēkos", which means "ape".

Rudapithecus is classified as part of the extinct great ape tribe, Dryopithecini, along with Hispanopithecus, Dryopithecus, Ouranopithecus, Anoiapithecus, and Pierolapithecus.

The taxonomy of Rudapithecus has been debated, due to its close similarities to other Late Miocene European apes. Originally, since Rudapithecus fossils share many dental and cranial similarities with species such as Dryopithecus brancoi, many researchers reclassified Rudapithecus as part of Dryopithecus.

By the late 20th and early 21st centuries, additional fossil cranial and postcranial remains from Rudabánya provided a larger sample for comparison. These fossils suggested that the Rudabánya apes had a distinctive combination of features relative to other dryopithecines, leading many researchers to again recognize Rudapithecus as a separate genus of European great ape.

The relationship of Rudapithecus to extant African apes and humans is highly debated with several hypothesis currently proposed. Although it is generally accepted that Rudapithecus and the other dryopithecine apes fall within the great ape clade Hominidae it is uncertain whether they are stem hominids, or stem hominines. One hypothesis suggests that Eurasian miocene apes related to dryopithecines dispersed back into Africa in the late Miocene where they contributed to the ancestry of the last common ancestor of African apes and humans (hominines). An alternative hypothesis suggests that the large bodied apes that survived through the Miocene in Africa led to the last common ancestors of African apes and humans instead of the European Miocene apes. The limited fossil record of great apes, high amounts of homoplasy between extinct genera due to adaptations to similar environments, and the lack of diversity in extant great apes makes it difficult to agree on a single hypothesis.