Oreopithecus is an extinct primate from the Miocene epoch whose fossils have been found in today's Tuscany and Sardinia in Italy. Oreopithecus (from the Greek ὄρος, oros and πίθηκος, pithekos, meaning "hill-ape") existed 9 to 7 million years ago in the Tusco-Sardinian area when this territory was an isolated island in a chain of islands stretching from central Europe to northern Africa.[explain 1]It was one of a large number of European immigrants that settled this area in the Vallesian-Turolian transition and one of few hominoids to survive the so-called Vallesian Crisis together with Sivapithecus in Asia. To date, dozens of individuals have been discovered at the Tuscan localities of Montebamboli, Montemassi, Casteani, Ribolla, and, most notably, in the fossil-rich lignite mine in the Baccinello Basin, making it one of the best-represented fossil apes.