The first Dryopithecus fossils were described from the French Pyrenees by French paleontologist Édouard Lartet in 1856, three years before Charles Darwin published his On the Origin of Species.
Subsequent authors noted similarities to modern African great apes.
In his The Descent of Man, Darwin briefly noted that Dryopithecus casts doubt on the African origin of apes:
...it is somewhat more probable that our early progenitors lived on the African continent than elsewhere.
But it is useless to speculate on this subject; for two or three anthropomorphous apes, one the Dryopithecus of Lartet, nearly as large as a man, and closely allied to Hylobates, existed in Europe during the Miocene age; and since so remote a period the earth has certainly undergone many great revolutions, and there has been ample time for migration on the largest scale.

Dryopithecus taxonomy has been the subject of much turmoil, with new specimens being the basis of a new species or genus based on minute differences, resulting in several now-defunct species.
By the 1960s, all non-human apes were classified into the now-obsolete family Pongidae, and extinct apes into Dryopithecidae.
In 1965, English palaeoanthropologist David Pilbeam and American palaeontologist Elwyn L. Simons separated the genus–which included specimens from across the Old World at the time–into three subgenera: Dryopithecus in Europe, Sivapithecus in Asia, and Proconsul in Africa.
Afterwards, there was discussion over whether each of these subgenera should be elevated to genus.
In 1979, Sivapithecus was elevated to genus, and Dryopithecus was subdivided again into the subgenera Dryopithecus in Europe, and Proconsul, Limnopithecus, and Rangwapithecus in Africa.
Since that time, several more species were assigned and moved, and by the 21st century, the genus included D. fontani, D. brancoi, D. laietanus, and D. crusafonti.
However, the 2009 discovery of a partial skull of D. fontani caused many of them to be split off into different genera, such as the newly erected Hispanopithecus, because part of the confusion was caused by the fragmentary nature of the Dryopithecus holotype with vague and incomplete diagnostic characteristics.

Currently, there is only one uncontested species, D. fontani.
Specimens are:
Holotype, a male mandible with teeth from Saint-Gaudens in the French Pyrenees.
Based on dental development in chimps, it was 6 to 8 years old, and several diagnostic characteristics made from the holotype would be lost in mature D. fontani; A partial left humerus arm bone and five isolated teeth are also known from the site.

An upper incisor, NMB G.a.9.,
and female upper molar, FSL 213981, come from Saint-Alban-de-Roche, France.

A male partial face, IPS35026, and femur, IPS41724, from Vallès Penedès in Catalonia, Spain.

A female mandible with teeth, LMK-Pal 5508, from St. Stefan, Carinthia, Austria 12.5 mya, which could possibly be considered a separate species, "D. carinthiacus".

Dryopithecus is classified into the namesake great ape tribe Dryopithecini, along with  Hispanopithecus, Rudapithecus, Ouranopithecus, Anoiapithecus, and Pierolapithecus, though the latter two may belong to Dryopithecus, the former two may be synonymous, and the former three can also be placed into their own tribes.
Dryopithecini is either regarded as an offshoot of orangutans (Ponginae), an ancestor to African apes and humans (Homininae), or its own separate branch (Dryopithecinae).

Dryopithecus was a part of an adaptive radiation of great apes in the expanding forests of Europe in the warm climates of the Miocene Climatic Optimum, possibly descending from early or middle Miocene African apes which diversified in the proceeding Middle Miocene disruption (a cooling event).
It is possible great apes first evolved in Europe or Asia, and then migrated down into Africa.
The first Dryopithecus fossils were described from the French Pyrenees by French paleontologist Édouard Lartet in 1856, three years before Charles Darwin published his On the Origin of Species. Subsequent authors noted similarities to modern African great apes. In his The Descent of Man, Darwin briefly noted that Dryopithecus casts doubt on the African origin of apes:
...it is somewhat more probable that our early progenitors lived on the African continent than elsewhere. But it is useless to speculate on this subject; for two or three anthropomorphous apes, one the Dryopithecus of Lartet, nearly as large as a man, and closely allied to Hylobates, existed in Europe during the Miocene age; and since so remote a period the earth has certainly undergone many great revolutions, and there has been ample time for migration on the largest scale.
Dryopithecus taxonomy has been the subject of much turmoil, with new specimens being the basis of a new species or genus based on minute differences, resulting in several now-defunct species. By the 1960s, all non-human apes were classified into the now-obsolete family Pongidae, and extinct apes into Dryopithecidae. In 1965, English palaeoanthropologist David Pilbeam and American palaeontologist Elwyn L. Simons separated the genus–which included specimens from across the Old World at the time–into three subgenera: Dryopithecus in Europe, Sivapithecus in Asia, and Proconsul in Africa. Afterwards, there was discussion over whether each of these subgenera should be elevated to genus. In 1979, Sivapithecus was elevated to genus, and Dryopithecus was subdivided again into the subgenera Dryopithecus in Europe, and Proconsul, Limnopithecus, and Rangwapithecus in Africa. Since that time, several more species were assigned and moved, and by the 21st century, the genus included D. fontani, D. brancoi, D. laietanus, and D. crusafonti. However, the 2009 discovery of a partial skull of D. fontani caused many of them to be split off into different genera, such as the newly erected Hispanopithecus, because part of the confusion was caused by the fragmentary nature of the Dryopithecus holotype with vague and incomplete diagnostic characteristics.
Currently, there is only one uncontested species, D. fontani. Specimens are:
Holotype, a male mandible with teeth from Saint-Gaudens in the French Pyrenees. Based on dental development in chimps, it was 6 to 8 years old, and several diagnostic characteristics made from the holotype would be lost in mature D. fontani; A partial left humerus arm bone and five isolated teeth are also known from the site.
An upper incisor, NMB G.a.9., and female upper molar, FSL 213981, come from Saint-Alban-de-Roche, France.
A male partial face, IPS35026, and femur, IPS41724, from Vallès Penedès in Catalonia, Spain.
A female mandible with teeth, LMK-Pal 5508, from St. Stefan, Carinthia, Austria 12.5 mya, which could possibly be considered a separate species, "D. carinthiacus".
Dryopithecus is classified into the namesake great ape tribe Dryopithecini, along with  Hispanopithecus, Rudapithecus, Ouranopithecus, Anoiapithecus, and Pierolapithecus, though the latter two may belong to Dryopithecus, the former two may be synonymous, and the former three can also be placed into their own tribes. Dryopithecini is either regarded as an offshoot of orangutans (Ponginae), an ancestor to African apes and humans (Homininae), or its own separate branch (Dryopithecinae).
Dryopithecus was a part of an adaptive radiation of great apes in the expanding forests of Europe in the warm climates of the Miocene Climatic Optimum, possibly descending from early or middle Miocene African apes which diversified in the proceeding Middle Miocene disruption (a cooling event). It is possible great apes first evolved in Europe or Asia, and then migrated down into Africa.
Dryopithecus