Paleobiological Implications of the Ardipithecus ramidus Dentition

Gen Suwa · Reiko T. Kono · Scott W. Simpson · Berhane Asfaw · C. Owen Lovejoy · Tim D. White

206 citations0/0 files storedScience

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

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

Abstract

The Middle Awash Ardipithecus ramidus sample comprises over 145 teeth, including associated maxillary and mandibular sets. These help reveal the earliest stages of human evolution. Ar. ramidus lacks the postcanine megadontia of Australopithecus. Its molars have thinner enamel and are functionally less durable than those of Australopithecus but lack the derived Pan pattern of thin occlusal enamel associated with ripe-fruit frugivory. The Ar. ramidus dental morphology and wear pattern are consistent with a partially terrestrial, omnivorous/frugivorous niche. Analyses show that the ARA-VP-6/500 skeleton is female and that Ar. ramidus was nearly monomorphic in canine size and shape. The canine/lower third premolar complex indicates a reduction of canine size and honing capacity early in hominid evolution, possibly driven by selection targeted on the male upper canine.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 206 citations exist upstream.

References

2002A new hominid from the Upper Miocene of Chad, Central Africa 1994Australopithecus ramidus, a new species of early hominid from Aramis, Ethiopia 2001Late Miocene hominids from the Middle Awash, Ethiopia 2006Asa Issie, Aramis and the origin of Australopithecus 2005New material of the earliest hominid from the Upper Miocene of Chad 2004Late Miocene Teeth from Middle Awash, Ethiopia, and Early Hominid Dental Evolution 2003Sexual dimorphism in Australopithecus afarensis was similar to that of modern humans 2004Molar enamel thickness and distribution patterns in extant great apes and humans: new insights based on a 3-dimensional whole crown perspective

Cited by

2009Ardipithecus ramidus and the Paleobiology of Early Hominids 2009Reexamining Human Origins in Light of Ardipithecus ramidus 2011The evolutionary context of the first hominins 2009The Great Divides: Ardipithecus ramidus Reveals the Postcrania of Our Last Common Ancestors with African Apes 2013Isotopic evidence of early hominin diets

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.