Feb 16 2018

Emergence of Hominoids cont.
 Late Miocene Apes cont.

o Dryopithecus have small faces and slight brow ridges, lighter tooth enamel and jaws
with pointed molar cusps, more so resembling African apes and most likely living an
arboreal lifestyle with brachiation capabilities
o Many branches of hominoids died out due to climate changes in the environment, thus
creating a gap in the African fossil record (13.5-5 mya), primates having indisputable
hominin characteristics in East Africa (post-5 mya); recent African fossil finds such as the
Orrorin tugenensis (6 mya) and Sahelanthropus tchadensis (7 mya) are beginning to fill
the gap
o Molecular clocks and divergence of species can be calculated between species, neutral
mutations accumulating in a set rate (stable mutation rate plus stable generation time)
to determine the difference between two species, the proportional relationship
between mutations and age to determine most recent common ancestor; used to date
common ancestor of the hominin and hominoid groups
Early Hominins
 The transition to hominins, including the early species of Homo, modeling human evolution,
trends in hominin evolution, and early hominin cultures
 Oldest African hominin fossils include Sahelanthropus tchadensis from about 7 mya in West-
Central Africa with skull fossils, having hominoid (small brain, elongated skull, sloping face,
prominent brow ridges) and hominin (foramen magnum central, small canine teeth, and short
mid-face) features; Orrorin tugenensis about 6 mya in Kenya led to the discovery of the femur
and other various bones, suggesting a chimpanzee-size human-like hominoid with small teeth
with thick enamel, bipedal upright terrestrial movement and partially arboreal; Ardipithecus
ramidus around 4.4 mya in Ethiopia, suggesting a possible hominin common ancestor due to
hominoid dentition (small cheek teeth, thin enamel, large canines) and hominin bodies (big toe,
rigid foot, central foramen magnum, and bipedal and arboreal movement)
 First hominin groups (genus) evidence was recovered in the Great Rift Valley in Ethiopia, Kenya,
and Tanzania dating around 4-3 mya, including the Australopithecines (Australopithecus) and
Paranthropoids (Paranthropus); reflecting traits of dentition (small canines and flat and thickly
enameled molars), fully bipedal movement though not entirely terrestrial and still partially
arboreal
o Australopithecines stem from about 5-2 mya with dramatic variation of over six species,
the diversity suggested to have come from adaptive radiation from dynamic
environment by volcanic activity and geological uplifting, forests turning into grasslands
and savannahs
 Australopithecus anamensis existed around 4.2 mya in Kenya, exhibiting small
bipedal hominin life, teeth similar to Australopithecus afarensis and may be
ancestral, showing human-like lower body orientation (i.e. tibia fossils) as proof
to bipedal living
 Australopithecus afarensis were oriented around 4-3 mya found in Laetoli (3.6
mya) in Tanzania, and Hadar (3.2 mya) in Ethiopia, leaving a large number of
individuals recovered with clear evidence of bipedalism, such as the
reconstructed skeleton “Lucy” with a completely bipedal hominin body with
occasional arboreal movement whilst retaining ape-like skull, jaw, and dentition
 Australopithecus africanus dated around 3-2 mya in South Africa, found through
a discovery of “Taung Child” around 3.5 mya in 1924, found with a rounder
cranium, larger brain, smaller teeth similar to humans and S-shaped lumbar
curve
 Other Australopithecus species include Australopithecus bahrelghazali around 3
mya in Chad (first hominin outside of the Great Rift Valley), Australopithecus
garhi around 2.5 mya in Ethiopia with much fossil evidence (longer femurs than
afarensis, fossilized bone tools with butcher marks), and Australopithecus
sediba around 2 mya in South Africa with most complete skeletons to date
(Homo-like facial features, dentition, and dedicated bipedalism)
o Paranthropoids stem around 2.7-1 mya in South and East Africa, body size similar to the
robust Australopithecus africanus, slightly larger brain (490-530cc), with thicker jaws,
larger molars, smaller incisors, massive muscle attachments to jaws and skull, and well
developed heavy-chewing support sagittal crests (may have been a sexually dimorphic
trait)
 Paranthropus aethiopicus dates to 2.5 mya in southern Ethiopia and northern
Kenya, similar to contemporary A. afarensis with very robust jaw size and
dentition, faces dish-shaped and broad, and had large sagittal crests for muscle
attachments
 Paranthropus robustus dates to 1.8-1 mya as found in the Kromdraai Cave in
South Africa, as a new species and type specimen for Paranthropus, as the name
suggests with robust jaw and teeth with a likely vegetarian diet

Feb 16 2018

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Emergence of Hominoids cont.

 Late Miocene Apes cont.

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