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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

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