Spoor, Fred, Leakey, Meave and O'Higgins, Paul orcid.org/0000-0002-9797-0809 (2016) Middle Pliocene hominin diversity:Australopithecus deyiremeda and Kenyanthropus platyops. Philosophical Transactions Of The Royal Society Of London Series B - Biological Sciences. 20150231. ISSN 1471-2970
Abstract
Geometric morphometric shape analyses are used to compare the maxillae of the Kenyanthropus platyops holotype KNM-WT 40000, the Australopithecus deyiremeda holotype BRT-VP-3/1 and other australopiths. The main aim is to explore the relationship between these two specimens and contemporary Australopithecus afarensis. Five landmarks placed on lateral views of the maxillae quantify key aspects of the morphology. Generalized Procrustes analyses and principal component analyses of the resulting shape coordinates were performed. The magnitudes of differences in shape and their significances were assessed using Procrustes and Mahalanobis’ distances, respectively. Both KNM-WT 40000 and BRT-VP-3/1 show statistically significant differences in maxillary shape from A. afarensis, but do so in dissimilar ways. Moreover, the former differs more from A. afarensis than the latter. KNM-WT 40000 has a more anteriorly positioned zygomatic process with a transversely flat, and more orthognathic subnasal clivus. BRT-VP-3/1 has a more inferiorly positioned zygomatic process, a slightly retracted dental arcade, but without shortening of the anterior maxilla. These findings are consistent with previous conclusions that the two fossils should be attributed to separate species, rather than to A. afarensis, and with the presence of three contemporary hominin species in the Middle Pliocene of eastern Africa.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2016 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details. |
Keywords: | hominin evolution, Pliocene, Africa, maxilla, geometric morphometrics, species diversity,Species diversity,Geometric morphometrics,Africa,Hominin evolution,Pliocene,Maxilla |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Hull York Medical School (York) The University of York > Faculty of Arts and Humanities (York) > Archaeology (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 31 Aug 2016 08:41 |
Last Modified: | 16 Oct 2024 13:05 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0231 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1098/rstb.2015.0231 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:104209 |
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