鲁道古猿(Rudapithecus hungaricus)是一种晚中新世大猿，是探索人亚科成员起源、演化与扩散的关键物种之一。该物种被推测具备处理硬质食物的能力，三维釉质厚度和咬合力是反映这项能力的两个指标，本研究综合这两个指标来验证该猜想。基于μCT数据，我们测量了4颗前臼齿和4颗臼齿的三维釉质厚度，并估算了臼齿咬合力，最终将结果与现生大猿（黑猩猩、大猩猩和猩猩）的61个釉质厚度数据和18个咬合力数据进行了对比。结果表明：1）从前臼齿釉质厚度来看，鲁道古猿与黑猩猩相似；2）从臼齿釉质厚度来看，鲁道古猿与猩猩相似；3）从臼齿咬合力来看，鲁道古猿大于黑猩猩，小于大猩猩，最接近猩猩。总体来看，鲁道古猿在釉质厚度和咬合力上与猩猩最为相似。鉴于猩猩具备处理硬质食物的能力，本文认为鲁道古猿也具备这项能力。在水果匮乏时期，较厚的牙釉质和较大的咬合力使鲁道古猿能够处理备选食物（硬质食物或者韧性食物），从而确保基本的能量摄入。

Rudapithecus hungaricus, a late Miocene great ape from Rudabánya, Hungary, is a key taxon for understanding the origin, evolution, and dispersal of Homininae. This species has been hypothesized to be capable of processing hard food items. To test this hypothesis, we conducted three-dimensional analyses of enamel thickness (ET) across eight Rudapithecus teeth (including four premolars and four molars) and estimated bite force (BF) of four molars using μCT data. Two enamel thickness indices were measured: Three-dimensional average enamel thickness (3DAET) and the ratio of enamel-thickness to dentine-thickness (3DRED). According to Chai (2018), we measured dentine horn angle (DHA) and cuspal enamel thickness (CET) to estimate BF. Then we compared the results with that of extant great apes (Pan, Gorilla, and Pongo), including 61 ET measurements and 18 BF estimates. Results reveal that the average ET of Rudapithecus is greater in molars than in premolars. While Rudapithecus is broadly akin to Pan with respect to premolar ET, its molar ET shows a pattern more similar to Pongo. Furthermore, the average molar BF of Rudapithecus is 469.66N, which is larger than that of Pan (353.56 N), smaller than that of Gorilla (1023.06 N), and approximately equal to Pongo (499.62 N). Considering a high similarity between Rudapithecus and Pongo regarding molar ET and molar BF, and previous studies have shown that Pongo can process both tough and hard foods, thus our results support the hypothesis that Rudapithecus had the capability of processing hard foods. However, our results do not necessarily suggest that Rudapithecus had an overall tougher and/or harder diet. Which foods a species have actually eaten depends on a variety of factors such as the food processing capabilities, environmental variability, the accessibility of preferred foods, and the competition with other species. Combined with previous dietary researches, it is possible that the functional significance of thick enamel and great molar BF presented in Rudapithecus is to ensure basic energy intake by processing infrequently-exploited exigent mechanically challenging foods (hard and/or tough foods) during periods of fruit scarcity. To advance the understanding of Rudapithecus feeding ecology, future researches may need to incorporate direct dietary evidence derived from various methods such as phytolith, calcium isotope, and dental chipping analyses.