Phylogeny of early Australopithecus : new fossil evidence from the Woranso-Mille (central Afar, Ethiopia)

Yohannes Haile‐Selassie

48 citations0/0 files storedPhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences

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Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology Evolution and Paleontology Studies Primate Behavior and Ecology

Abstract

The earliest evidence of Australopithecus goes back to ca 4.2 Ma with the first recorded appearance of Australopithecus 'anamensis' at Kanapoi, Kenya. Australopithecus afarensis is well documented between 3.6 and 3.0 Ma mainly from deposits at Laetoli (Tanzania) and Hadar (Ethiopia). The phylogenetic relationship of these two 'species' is hypothesized as ancestor-descendant. However, the lack of fossil evidence from the time between 3.6 and 3.9 Ma has been one of its weakest points. Recent fieldwork in the Woranso-Mille study area in the Afar region of Ethiopia has yielded fossil hominids dated between 3.6 and 3.8 Ma. These new fossils play a significant role in testing the proposed relationship between Au. anamensis and Au. afarensis. The Woranso-Mille hominids (3.6-3.8 Ma) show a mosaic of primitive, predominantly Au. anamensis-like, and some derived (Au. afarensis-like) dentognathic features. Furthermore, they show that, as currently known, there are no discrete and functionally significant anatomical differences between Au. anamensis and Au. afarensis. Based on the currently available evidence, it appears that there is no compelling evidence to falsify the hypothesis of 'chronospecies pair' or ancestor-descendant relationship between Au. anamensis and Au. afarensis. Most importantly, however, the temporally and morphologically intermediate Woranso-Mille hominids indicate that the species names Au. afarensis and Au. anamensis do not refer to two real species, but rather to earlier and later representatives of a single phyletically evolving lineage. However, if retaining these two names is necessary for communication purposes, the Woranso-Mille hominids are best referred to as Au. anamensis based on new dentognathic evidence.

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References

1925Australopithecus africanus The Man-Ape of South Africa 2002A new hominid from the Upper Miocene of Chad, Central Africa 1986Ancestors: The hard evidence 2017Evolutionary History of the Robust Australopithecines 1983The locomotor anatomy of Australopithecus afarensis 1994Australopithecus ramidus, a new species of early hominid from Aramis, Ethiopia 2009Ardipithecus ramidus and the Paleobiology of Early Hominids 1982Aspects of human evolution

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2012A new hominin foot from Ethiopia shows multiple Pliocene bipedal adaptations 2012Dental microwear and stable isotopes inform the paleoecology of extinct hominins 2013Diet of Australopithecus afarensis from the Pliocene Hadar Formation, Ethiopia 2019A 3.8-million-year-old hominin cranium from Woranso-Mille, Ethiopia 2013The Alpha Taxonomy of Australopithecus africanus 2019Relevance of the eastern African coastal forest for early hominin biogeography

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