| | |  | | | | Record from Web of Science® | | | | | | |
| Asa Issie, aramis and the origin of Australopithecus |
|
|
| Author(s): White TD, WoldeGabriel G, Asfaw B, Ambrose S, Beyene Y, Bernor RL, Boisserie JR, Currie B, Gilbert H, Haile-Selassie Y, Hart WK, Hlusko LJ, Howell FC, Kono RT, Lehmann T, Louchart A, Lovejoy CO, Renne PR, Saegusa H, Vrba ES, Wesselman H, Suwa G |
| Source: NATURE Volume: 440 Issue: 7086 Pages: 883-889 Published: APR 13 2006 |
| Times Cited: 41 References: 50 |
| Abstract: The origin of Australopithecus, the genus widely interpreted as ancestral to Homo, is a central problem in human evolutionary studies. Australopithecus species differ markedly from extant African apes and candidate ancestral hominids such as Ardipithecus, Orrorin and Sahelanthropus. The earliest described Australopithecus species is Au. anamensis, the probable chronospecies ancestor of Au. afarensis. Here we describe newly discovered fossils from the Middle Awash study area that extend the known Au. anamensis range into northeastern Ethiopia. The new fossils are from chronometrically controlled stratigraphic sequences and date to about 4.1-4.2 million years ago. They include diagnostic craniodental remains, the largest hominid canine yet recovered, and the earliest Australopithecus femur. These new fossils are sampled from a woodland context. Temporal and anatomical intermediacy between Ar. ramidus and Au. afarensis suggest a relatively rapid shift from Ardipithecus to Australopithecus in this region of Africa, involving either replacement or accelerated phyletic evolution. |
| Document Type: Article |
| Language: English |
| Reprint Address: White, TD (reprint author), Univ Calif Berkeley, Museum Vertebrate Zool, Human Evolut Res Ctr, 3101 Valley Life Sci Bldg, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA |
Addresses:
1. Univ Calif Berkeley, Museum Vertebrate Zool, Human Evolut Res Ctr, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA
2. Univ Calif Berkeley, Dept Integrat Biol, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA
3. Los Alamos Natl Lab, Hydrol Geochem & Geol Grp, Los Alamos, NM 87545 USA
4. Rift Valley Res Serv, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
5. Univ Illinois, Dept Anthropol, Urbana, IL 61801 USA
6. Minist Youth Sports & Culture, Dept Anthropol & Archaeol, Author Res & Conservat Cultural Heritage, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
7. Howard Univ, Coll Med, Dept Anat, Lab Evolutionary Biol, Washington, DC 20059 USA
8. Museum Natl Hist Nat, Unite Paleobiodivers & Paleoenvironm, CNRS, UMR 5143,Dept Hist Terre,USM 0203, F-75005 Paris, France
9. Univ Poitiers, UMR 6046, Lab Geobiol Biochronol & Paleontol Humaine, F-86022 Poitiers, France
10. Miami Univ, Dept Geol, Oxford, OH 45056 USA
11. Cleveland Museum Nat Hist, Dept Phys Anthropol, Cleveland, OH 44106 USA
12. Museum Nat Sci, Dept Anthropol, Shinjuku Ku, Tokyo 1690073, Japan
13. Transvaal Museum, Palaeontol Sect, ZA-0001 Pretoria, South Africa
14. Univ Lyon 1, Lab Paleoenvironm & Paleobiosphere, UMR 5125, F-69622 Villeurbanne, France
15. Kent State Univ, Dept Anthropol, Kent, OH 44242 USA
16. Kent State Univ, Div Biomed Sci, Kent, OH 44242 USA
17. Berkeley Geochronol Ctr, Berkeley, CA 94709 USA
18. Univ Calif Berkeley, Dept Earth & Planetary Sci, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA
19. Univ Hyogo, Inst Nat & Environm Sci, Yayoigaoka, Sanda 6691546 Japan
20. Yale Univ, Dept Geol & Geophys, New Haven, CT 06520 USA
21. Sierra Coll, Nat Hist Museum, Rocklin, CA 95677 USA
22. Univ Tokyo, Univ Museum, Bunkyo Ku, Tokyo 1130033, Japan |
| Publisher: NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP, MACMILLAN BUILDING, 4 CRINAN ST, LONDON N1 9XW, ENGLAND |
| Subject Category: Multidisciplinary Sciences |
| IDS Number: 031WU |
| ISSN: 0028-0836 |
| DOI: 10.1038/nature04629 |
|
| | | | | | | | | Record from Web of Science® | | | | | | | | | |