Oreopithecus

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Says Time Life Early Man, "A rare find, the almost complete skeleton of Oreopithecus lies in a coal bed in Italy where it turned up in 1958. Predating Australopithecus by seven million years or so and perhaps bipedal, the fossil led some scientists to consider it an earlier link between man and apes. It is now thought to lead to a dead end."

Comparative morphological and functional analyses of the skeletal remains of Oreopithecus bambolii, a hominoid from the Miocene Mediterranean island of Tuscany-Sardinia (Italy), provides evidence that bipedal activities made up a significant part of the positional behavior of this primate. The mosaic pattern of its postcranial morphology is to some degree convergent with that of Australopithecus and functionally intermediate between apes and early hominids. Some unique traits could have been selected only under insular conditions where the absence of predators and the limitation of trophic resources play a crucial role in mammalian evolution.
From: Apelike or Hominid-Like?

Textural properties and functional morphology of the hip bone cancellous network of Oreopithecus bambolii, a 9- to 7-million-year-old Late Miocene hominoid from Italy, provide insights into the postural and locomotor behavior of this fossil ape. Digital image processing of calibrated hip bone radiographs reveals the occurrence of trabecular features, which, in humans and fossil hominids, are related to vertical support of the body weight, i.e., to bipedality.
From: Oreopithecus was a bipedal ape after all: Evidence from the iliac cancellous architecture

Image Source: Time Life, Early Man, Pg.30, 1965-1973