The australopithecines were hominids that belonged to genera Australopithecus or Paranthropus. These species occurred in the Plio-Pleistocene era, and were bipedal and dentally similar to humans, but with a brain size not much larger than modern apes, lacking the encephalization characteristics of the genus Homo.
Australopithecines are classified within the Hominina subtribe of the Hominini tribe. Australopithecus appeared about 4 million years ago; Paranthropus, appeared about 2.7 million years ago. The term "Australopithecine" refers to both genera together. Australopithecus is sometimes referred to as the "gracile (slender) australopithecines", while Paranthropus are also called the "robust australopithecines".
The ancestor of the Australopithecines is the Ardipithecus genus, who lived 4.4 million years ago. The Homo genus appeared about 2.4 million years ago with Homo habilis and seems to be descended from australopithecine ancestors, more precisely from Kenyanthropus platyops branching off Australopithecus some 3.5 million years ago. An alternative possibility is the derivation of Homo directly from Ardipithecus with an as yet undiscovered link connecting Ardipithecus and Homo habilis existing in parallel to the Australopithecines in the period 4 to 2.5 million years ago.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Zinjanthropus Boisei
Paranthropus boisei, also known Zinjanthropus boisei, was an early type of hominid that was described as the largest of the Paranthropus species. It lived from about 2.6 until about 1.2 million years ago during the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs in Eastern Africa.
Zinjanthropus boisei had the largest teeth found in any hominid group, with teeth similar in size to gorillas (who weigh as much as 10 times as much). They are often referred to as hyper-robust due to the massive postcanine megadontia. The features of boisei are best described in relation to the other "robusts" (including aethiopicus), since this best shows some of the features that exclude aethiopicus from the "robust" lineage in favor of africanus. Nevertheless, its cranial capacity was 550 cm3, larger than that of a modern gorilla.
Paranthropus b. was discovered by anthropologist Mary Leakey on July 17, 1959, at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, the well-preserved cranium, which was nicknamed "Nutcracker Man," was dated to 1.75 million years old and had characteristics distinctive of the robust australopithecines. Mary and her husband Louis Leakey classified the find as Zinjanthropus boisei: "Zinj" for the medieval East African region of Zanj, "anthropus" meaning ape or ape-human, and "boisei" for Charles Boise (the anthropologists team’s funder at the time).
Paranthropus boisei (as the species was eventually categorized) proved to be a treasure especially when the anthropologists' son Richard Leakey considered it to be the first hominin species to use stone tools. Another skull was unearthed in 1969 by Richard at Koobi Fora near the Lake Turkana region, in Kenya.
Zinjanthropus boisei had the largest teeth found in any hominid group, with teeth similar in size to gorillas (who weigh as much as 10 times as much). They are often referred to as hyper-robust due to the massive postcanine megadontia. The features of boisei are best described in relation to the other "robusts" (including aethiopicus), since this best shows some of the features that exclude aethiopicus from the "robust" lineage in favor of africanus. Nevertheless, its cranial capacity was 550 cm3, larger than that of a modern gorilla.
Paranthropus b. was discovered by anthropologist Mary Leakey on July 17, 1959, at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, the well-preserved cranium, which was nicknamed "Nutcracker Man," was dated to 1.75 million years old and had characteristics distinctive of the robust australopithecines. Mary and her husband Louis Leakey classified the find as Zinjanthropus boisei: "Zinj" for the medieval East African region of Zanj, "anthropus" meaning ape or ape-human, and "boisei" for Charles Boise (the anthropologists team’s funder at the time).
Paranthropus boisei (as the species was eventually categorized) proved to be a treasure especially when the anthropologists' son Richard Leakey considered it to be the first hominin species to use stone tools. Another skull was unearthed in 1969 by Richard at Koobi Fora near the Lake Turkana region, in Kenya.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)