Australopithecus afarensis

AUSTRALOPITHECUS AFARENSIS

In 1735, Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) placed humans as a species «Homo nosce te ipsum» in the order Anthropomorpha along with monkeys and sloths (1735LinneC). In a publication in 1758, the naturalist transferred humans to the order Primates (1758LinneC). Today, humans and chimpanzees are united in the tribe Hominini, as descended from a common ancestor (2001GrovesCP). It has been established that the chromosome that distinguishes humans from monkeys was formed before 4.5 Ma (2022PoszewieckaB_GambinA). The hominin subfamily Sahelanthropus tchadensis lived in the Republic of Chad (Central Africa) from 7.2±0.31 to 6.8±0.45 Ma (2008LebatardAE_BrunetM; 2012ReynoldsSC_GallagherA). Reconstruction of its musculoskeletal system showed that the creature could have been an upright bipedal primate (2005ZollikoferCP_BrunetM). Fossils of what is probably the first bipedal representative of the hominid family Orrorin tugenensis, lived 6.1-5.7 Ma and still retained adaptations for climbing, have been discovered in Kenya (East Africa) (2001SenutB_CoppensY; 2006SawadaY_IshidaH; 2008RichmondBG_JungersWL).

Fragments of the skeleton of Ardipithecus kadabba, belonging to the tribe Hominini, are dated to 5.7-5.5 Ma (2009WhiteTD_WoldeGabrielG). The age of fossil bones of another specimen of the same genus Ardipithecus ramidus is 4.4 million years (2015WhiteTD_SuwaG). Australopithecus anamensis is a key species that seems to have given rise to the genus Homo, lived 4.2-4.1 Ma (2020BobeR_CarvalhoS). The evolutionary tree of hominids shows that Australopithecus anamensis gave rise to Australopithecus afarensis, and it was replaced by Australopithecus africanus (2012ШулимоваЕА).

The oldest parts of the supporting elements of the body of Australopithecus afarensis from Ethiopia (East Africa) are dated to the period 3.8-3.6 Ma (2010 Haile-Selassie Y). The cult remains of a female specimen of the mentioned species, conventionally designated «Lucy», are slightly younger - 3.2 million years (1994 Kimbel WH_Rak Y; 2004 Johanson DC).

Australopithecus afarensis, reconstruction by M. L. Butovskaya; exposition of the Orlov Paleontological Museum (Moscow); photo by the author.

The list of its skeletal elements includes a part of the pelvic bone and the left femur. Each of them has reliable features of the ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF) that was present: the acetabular fossa, the acetabular notch, and the femoral head fossa.

Cast of the pelvis of a female Australopithecus afarensis (Lucy); exposition of the Orlov Paleontological Museum (Moscow); photo by the author.

Left femur of a female Australopithecus afarensis (Lucy); epoxy resin cast, material of the educational collection of the Archaeology Research Laboratories of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (model by Steve Davis). [sketchfab.com]

A notable feature is the elongated acetabular fossa, which has a small transverse size.

Left acetabulum (external view) of the pelvis of a female Australopithecus afarensis (Lucy); Epoxy resin casting, material from the teaching collection of the Archaeology Research Laboratories, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (model by Steve Davis). [sketchfab.com]

This observation suggests that Australopithecus afarensis had a smaller range of pronation and supination than modern humans.

References

von Linne C. Systema naturae, sive, regna tria naturae, systematice proposita per classes, ordines, genera, & species. Lugduni batavorum: T. Haak, 1735. [books.google]

von Linne C. Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. T. 1-2. Holmiae: Impensis Direct. Laurentii Salvii, 1758.

Groves CP. Towards a taxonomy of the Hominidae. In: Humanity from African Naissance to Coming Millennia. In: Tobias PV, Raath MA, Moggi-Cecchi J, Doyle GA (Eds). Colloquia in Human biology and Palaeonthropology. Firenze: Firenze University Press, 2001:291-7. [library.oapen.org]

Poszewiecka B, Gogolewski K, Stankiewicz P, Gambin A. Revised time estimation of the ancestral human chromosome 2 fusion. BMC genomics. 2022;23(6)1-16. [link.springer.com]

Reynolds SC, Gallagher A (Eds). African genesis: perspectives on hominin evolution. Vol. 62. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. [books.google]

Lebatard AE, Bourlès DL, Duringer P, Jolivet M, Braucher R, Carcaillet J, ... Brunet M. Cosmogenic nuclide dating of Sahelanthropus tchadensis and Australopithecus bahrelghazali: Mio-Pliocene hominids from Chad. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2008;105(9)3226-31. [pnas.org]

Zollikofer CP, Ponce de León MS, Lieberman DE, Guy F, Pilbeam D, Likius A, Mackaye HT, Vignaud P, Brunet M. Virtual cranial reconstruction of Sahelanthropus tchadensis. Nature. 2005;434(7034)755-9. [doc.rero.ch]

Senut B, Pickford M, Gommery D, Mein P, Cheboi K, Coppens Y. First hominid from the Miocene (Lukeino formation, Kenya). Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences-Series IIA-Earth and Planetary Science. 2001;332(2)137-44. [academia.edu]

Richmond BG, Jungers WL. Orrorin tugenensis Femoral Morphology and the Evolution of Hominin Bipedalism. Science. 2008;319(5870)1662-5. [doc.rero.ch]

Sawada Y, Saneyoshi M, Nakayama K, Sakai T, Itaya T, Hyodo M ... Ishida H. The ages and geological backgrounds of Miocene hominoids Nacholapithecus, Samburupithecus, and Orrorin from Kenya. In: Ishida H, Tuttle R, Pickford M, Ogihara N, Nakatsukasa M (Eds). Human origins and environmental backgrounds: Boston: Springer-Verlag, 2006:71-96. [link.springer.com]

White TD, Asfaw B, Beyene Y, Haile-Selassie Y, Lovejoy CO, Suwa G, WoldeGabriel G. Ardipithecus ramidus and the paleobiology of early hominids. Science. 2009;326(5949)64-86. [courses.edx.org]

White TD, Lovejoy CO, Asfaw B, Carlson JP, Suwa G. Neither chimpanzee nor human, Ardipithecus reveals the surprising ancestry of both. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2015;112(16)4877-84. [pnas.org]

Bobe R, Manthi FK, Ward CV, Plavcan JM, Carvalho S. The ecology of Australopithecus anamensis in the early Pliocene of Kanapoi, Kenya. Journal of human evolution. 2020;140:102717. [ora.ox.ac.uk]

Шулимова ЕА. Australopithecus anamensis: история открытия вида. Кубанские исторические чтения. Материалы III Всероссийской с международным участием научно-практической конференции. Краснодар, 2012:4-9. [elibrary.ru]

Haile-Selassie Y. Phylogeny of early Australopithecus: new fossil evidence from the Woranso-Mille (central Afar, Ethiopia). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 2010;365(1556)3323-31. [pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

Kimbel WH, Johanson DC, Rak Y. The first skull and other new discoveries of Australopithecus afarensis at Hadar, Ethiopia. Nature. 1994;368(6470)449-51. [nature.com]

Johanson DC. Lucy, thirty years later: an expanded view of Australopithecus afarensis. Journal of anthropological research. 2004;60(4)465-86. [journals.uchicago.edu]

Keywords

ligamentum capitis femoris, ligamentum teres, ligament of head of femur, doctrine, animals, monkey, homo, australopithecus

The original text in Russian is available at the link: Australopithecus afarensis

NB! Fair practice / use: copied for the purposes of criticism, review, comment, research and private study in accordance with Copyright Laws of the US: 17 U.S.C. §107; Copyright Law of the EU: Dir. 2001/29/EC, art.5/3a,d; Copyright Law of the RU: ГК РФ ст.1274/1.1-2,7

BLOG CONTENT

500–1 Mya

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LCF in 2026 (May)

LCF in 2026 (May ) (Quotes from articles and books published in May 2026 mentioning the ligamentum capitis femoris) Kim, P. S., Kang, C., Lee, J. K., & Hwang, J. M. (2026). Hip arthroscopy to treat symptomatic paralabral cysts: a retrospective analysis of clinical outcomes. Arthroscopy and Orthopedic Sports Medicine , 13 (1), 27-34. [i] e-aosm.org Ko, H. Y. (2026). Vascular Anatomy of the Extremities and Lungs. In Practical Functional Anatomy for Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation: A Guide for Physiatrists and Rehabilitation Specialists (pp. 191-223). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore. [ii] link.springer.com Aiba, H., Yamaguchi, M., Kimura, H., & Murakami, H. (2026). Advances in limb-salvage surgery and reconstruction for pediatric bone and soft tissue tumors. Frontiers in Pediatrics , 14 , 1817788. [iii] pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov Bajwa, A., Villar, R., ...

1845HollsteinL

Fragments from the book Hollstein L. Compendium der Anatomie des Menschen (1865). The author discusses the anatomy of the ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF), and mentions its synonyms. The text is prepared for machine translation using a service built into the blog from Google or your web browser. Quote p. 144 Das Lig am. teres s. rotundum femoris (Fig. 50, 7.) hat eine dreieckige Gestalt, und ist mit seiner Basis in dem Fundus acetabuli, mit seiner rundlichen Spitze in der Fovea capitis ossis femoris befestigt. Es besteht aus einem Bündel Sehnenfasern, und erhält von der Synovialmembran einen scheidenformigen Ueberzug; bisweilen existirt letzterer allein, und manchmal felilt das Band ganz und gar. Fig. 50. Seitliche Ansicht der Bänder des Beckens und Hüftgelenks. Quote p. 145 Die weite Synovialmembran überzieht den Schenkelkopf, geht alsdann als Scheide des Ligam. teres zur Gelenkpfanne über, welche sie ebenfalls auskleidet, und schlägt sich hierauf über die ...

LCF in 2026 (June)

LCF in 2026 (June ) (Quotes from articles and books published in June 2026 mentioning the ligamentum capitis femoris) Turner, A. H., Kernan, C. E., Laing, A., Pritchard, A. C., Stocker, M. R., Irmis, R. B., ... & Nesbitt, S. J. (2026). A new shuvosaurid (Archosauria, Poposauroidea) from the Late Triassic (Norian) Hayden Quarry of New Mexico, USA. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology , e2618182. [i] tandfonline.com Wang, F., Mu, Y., Sun, J., & Chi, H. Traumatic necrosis of femoral head: a case report. Journal of Clinical Medicine Research. 2026;7(1)14-18. [ii] en.front-sci.com Sha, S. Y., Lang, X. X., Liu, Y., Li, C. B., & Yin, Q. F. L‐Capsulotomy and Anatomic Repair of Zona Orbicularis: Hip Arthroscopy Capsular Management for Femoroacetabular Impingement Syndrome. Arthroscopy Techniques , e70149. [iii] arthroscopyjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com Garlapaty, A. R....

1665LindenJA

Content [i] Annotation [ii] Original text (in Latin) [iii] English translation [iv] Source & links [v] Notes [vi] Authors & Affiliations [vii] Keywords [i] Annotation Fragment from the book: Linden JA . Magni Hippocratis Coi Opera Omnia Graece Et Latine Edita. Vol. I. (1665). This article presents an excerpt from the treatise «Mochlicus» (Instruments of Reductions) by Hippocrates of Cos (b. 460 BC), translated into Latin. The author describes for the first time the localization and area of distal attachment of the ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF) describit, mentionem in alio tractatu ponens. A translation of this article into Russian is available at the link: 1665LindenJA . The original source in Greek sees at the link: 1844LittreE , and in English at: 1886AdamsF . [ii] Original text (in Latin) Quote pp. 294-295 Vol. I. Ossium natura II. Ipsum aurem femur foras, & in anteriore parte incurvum est. Caput autem ejus appendix eft r...

Vertebrates

VERTEBRATES According to the molecular clock, a specific method for dating phylogenetic events, vertebrates (Vertebrata) separated from arthropods (Arthropoda) 976±97 Ma (2004HedgesSB_ShoeJL). The latter began to dominate in species diversity with the Cambrian burst of radiation, which occurred 520 Ma (2010EdgecombeGD). This ratio in the fauna of the Earth is still preserved. Approximately 525 Ma, the phylum Chordates separated from the group of bilaterally symmetrical animals (1995ChenJY_ZhouGQ). In turn, the evolution of chordate organisms led to the formation of the first vertebrates at least 500 Ma, from which the jawed mouths 450-400 Ma descended, becoming the ancestors of the placoderms or "armored" fish (Placodermi) (1979 НаумовНП _ КарташевНН ). Sculptural reconstruction of the placoderm Coccosteus from the order Arthrodires, Middle Devonian, 393.3-382.7 Ma ; exposition of the Orlov Paleontological Museum (Moscow); photo by the author. The first cartilaginou...

1981OrtnerDJ_PutscharWGJ

Content [i] Annotation [ii] Original text [iii] Illustrations [iv] Source & links [v] Notes [vi] Authors & Affiliations [vii] Keywords [i] Annotation Fragment from the book: Ortner DJ, Putschar WGJ. Identification of Pathological Conditions in Human Skeletal Remains (1981). The authors describe signs of ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF) pathology in the remains of a Bronze Age individual, possibly resulting from recurrent hip subluxation. The text in Russian is available at the following link: 1981OrtnerDJ_PutscharWGJ . [ii] Original text Quote pp. 360-361 An adult male skeleton from tomb A100E at the Early Bronze Age [c. 3500–2000 BCE] cemetery of Bab edh-Dhra in Jordan has an abnormally shallow acetabulum of the right hip. This is the same skeleton that had a separate neural arch. The acetabulum is also much larger in diameter than the corresponding acetabulum of the left innominate (Figure 577). There is a moderate amount of arthritic lipping on the m...

1900BetheE

Fragments of t he book Pollux J. Onomasticum (166-76) edited by E. Bethe (1900). In Greek the author calls ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF) «ἰσχίον», and the concept of «ligament» is designated by the term «νεῦρον / ν εῦρα ». The term «ἰσχίον» was used by Rufus of Ephesus ( 2020ArkhipovSV_ProlyginaIV ). The fragment of the Onomasticum dealing with the LCF was quoted by Giovanni Filippo Ingrassia ( 1603IngrassiaeIP ) . See our commentary at the link: 1900 BetheE [Rus]. Quote 1. Βιβλίου Β. 186-187 [Grc] καιλεῖται δὲ καὶ τὸ νεῦρον τὸ σ υνέχον τὴν κοτύλην πρὸ σ τὸν μηρὸν ἰ σ χίον. ὁμώνυμον δ’ ἐ σ τιν αύτῷ καὶ τὸ ἄρθρον. καὶ τὸ μὲν [τῇ] κοτύλῃ [ σ υνηρμο σ μένον] ὀ σ τοῦν σ τρογγύλον μηροῦ κεφαλὴ, μηρὸ σ δὲ τὸ ἁπ ὸ το ύ το υ μὲχρ ι γονάτων μὲρο σ , … (original source: 1900BetheE , pp. 140-141 ) Quote 2. Βιβλίου Β. 234 [Grc] Νεῦρα δ’ ἐστι σύνδεσμος ὀστῶν εἴκων τε καὶ τεινόμενος, ἀφ ̓ ὧν κ...

1753AstrucJ

Content [i] Annotation [ii] Original text (in French) [iii] English translation [iv] Source & links [v] Notes [vi] Authors & Affiliations [vii] Keywords [i] Annotation Fragments from the book: Astruc J . Conjectures sur les memoires originaux dont il paroit que Moyse s'est servi pour composer le livre de la Genese (Conjectures on the Original Documents Which Moses Apparently Used in Compiling the Book of Genesis, 1753). In analyzing the book of Genesis, the author cites a French text mentioning a hip injury, damage to the ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF), and the consequences of an accident. An Russian translation is available at: 1753AstrucJ . [ii] Original text (in French) Quote p. 176 Genesis. Chap. XXXII A 25. Et quand cest hommeld vid qu’il ne le pouvoit vaincre, il toucha l'enrdroit de l'emboifiement de la hanche d'icelui: ainsi l'emboifiement de l'os de la hanche de Jacob fut entors quand l'homme luictoit avec lui. Quote p. 177...

1948EpsteinI

Content [i] Annotation [ii] Original text [iii] Illustration [iv] Source & links [v] Notes [vi] Authors & Affiliations [vii] Keywords [i] Annotation Fragments from the book: Epstein I. Babylonian Talmud. Seder Kodashim. Vol. 2. Hullin (1948). The editor comments on the words of Rabbi Samuel (Shmuel) in the tractate Hullin of the Babylonian Talmud, explaining the location of the ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF) in relation to the joint and its differences from the sciatic nerve. The original in Russian is available at: 1948EpsteinI . [ii] Original text Quote p. 500 Hullin. Chapter 7.89b MISHNAH. [THE PROHIBITION OF] THE SCIATIC NERVE(1) IS IN FORCE BOTH WITHIN THE HOLY LAND AND OUTSIDE IT, BOTH DURING THE EXISTENCE OF THE TEMPLE AND AFTER IT, IN RESPECT OP BOTH UNCONSECRATED AND CONSECRATED [ANIMALS]. IT APPLIES TO CATTLE AND TO WILD ANIMALS, TO THE RIGHT AND LEFT HIP, BUT IT DOES NOT APPLY TO BIRDS BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO SPOON-SHAPED HIP(2). IT ALSO APPLIES TO A F...

1842GreenhillGA

A Latin translation of Theophilus Protospatharios's treatise On the Construction of the Human Being [Θεοφιλος ο Πρωτοσπαθάριος. Περὶ τῆς τοῦ ανθρώπου κατασκευῆς] (ca. 976-1115?). The author writes about the normal anatomy of the ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF) and its connective function. For our commentary, see the link: 1842GreenhillGA [Rus]. See also 1581CrassoPI , 1724FabriciusJA , 2020ArkhipovSV_ProlyginaIV . Quote. [Grc] Περὶ τῆς τοῦ ανθρώπου κατασκευῆς . Βιβλιον Ε . 13. (original source: 1842GreenhillGA, p. 204) [Lat] De corporis humani fabrica. Liber quintus. Cap. XIII. Dei erga homines amor [et sapientia] ex heminae fundo teretem nervum promisit, cartilaginosum vinculum femoris capiti insertum, adstringensque ne facile elabatur; inde ex heminae oris aliae copulae oriuntur, totum femoris caput in orbem constringentes, non teretes et solae, (qualis quae ex fundo porrigitur,) sed latae, valenterque heminae oras ad comrai...

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