Pierolapithecus catalaunicus is an extinct species of primate which lived about 13 million years ago during the Miocene in what is now Hostalets de Pierola, Catalonia, giving the name to the species. It is believed by some to be a common ancestor of both modern humans and the other great apes, or at least a species that is closer to a common ancestor than any previous fossil discovery. Rather than a full common ancestor, it has been suggested that the species may be ancestral to humans, chimpanzees and gorillas but not orangutans, given certain characteristics of the face.