Mandibular postcanine dentition from the Shungura formation, Ethiopia: Crown morphology, taxonomic allocations, and plio-pleistocene hominid evolution

American Journal of Physical Anthropology

Volumn 101, Issue 2, 1996, Pages 247-282

  Suwa, Gen ^a   White, Tim D ^b   Clark Howell, F ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO   (Japan)

^b UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

Author keywords

Australopithecus; Homo; Omo; Phylogeny; Postcanine dentition

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; DENTITION; EVOLUTION; MANDIBLE; PHYLOGENY; TAXONOMY;

ANIMALS; DENTITION; ETHIOPIA; HISTORY, ANCIENT; HOMINIDAE; HUMANS; PALEODONTOLOGY; PHYLOGENY;

EID: 0029776483     PISSN: 00029483     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1096-8644(199610)101:2<247::AID-AJPA9>3.0.CO;2-Z     Document Type: Article

References (102)

1. Albrecht GH (1992) Assessing the affinities of fossils using canonical variates and generalized distances. Hum. Evol. 7:49-69.
2. Ararabourg C, and Coppens Y (1967) Sur la decouverte, dans le Pleistocene inferiuer de la valle de l'Omo (Ethiopie), d'une mandibule d'Australopithecien. C.R. Acad. Sci. III 265:589-590.
3. Arambourg C, and Coppens Y (1968) Decouverte d'un Australopithecien nouveau dans les gisements de l'Omo (Ethiopie). S. Afr. J. Sci. 64:58-59.
4. Beynon AD, and Wood BA (1986) Variations in enamel thickness and structure in East African hominids. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 70:177-193.
5. Boaz NT, and Howell FC (1977) A gracile hominid cranium from upper Member G of the Shungura Formation, Ethiopia. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 46:93-108.
6. Bromage TG, and Schrenk F (1995) Biogeographic and climatic basis for a narrative of early hominid evolution. J. Hum. Evol. 25:109-114.
7. Bromage TG, Schrenk F, and Zonneveld FW (1995) Paleoanthropology of the Malawi Rift: An early hominid mandible from the Chiwondo Beds, northern Malawi. J. Hum. Evol. 25:71-108.
8. Brown FH (1994) Development of Pliocene and Pleistocene chronology of the Turkana Basin, East Africa, and its relation to other sites. In RS Corruccini and RL Ciochon (eds): Integrati ve Paths to the Past. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, pp. 285-312.
9. Chamberlain AT, and Wood BA (1985) A reappraisal of variation in hominid mandibular corpus dimensions. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 66:399-405.
10. Clarke RJ (1988) A new Australopithecus cranium from Sterkfontein and its bearing on the ancestry of Paranthropus. In FE Grine (ed): Evolutionary History of the "Robust" Australopithecines. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, pp. 285-292.
11. Clarke RJ (1994) On some new interpretations of Sterkfontein stratigraphy. S. Afr. J. Sci. 90:211-214.
12. Clarke RJ, and Tobias PV (1995) Sterkfontein Member 2 foot bones of the oldest South African hominid. Science 269:521-524.
13. Conroy GC, and Vannier MW (1991) Dental development in South African australopithecines. Part 1: Problems of pattern and chronology. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 56:121-136.
14. Coppens Y (1970) Les restes d'Hominides des series inferieures et moyennes des formations plio-villafranchiennes de l'Omo en Ethiopie. C. R. Acad. Sci. III 271:2286-2289.
15. Coppens Y (1971) Les restes d'Hominides des series superieures des formations plio-villafranchiennes de l'Omo en Ethiopie. C. R. Acad. Sci. III 272:36-39.
16. Coppens Y (1973a) Les restes d'Hominides des series inferieures et moyennes des formations plio-villafranchiennes de l'Omo en Ethiopie (recoltes 1970, 1971 et 1972). C. R. Acad. Sci. III 276:1823-1826.
17. Coppens Y (1973b) Les restes d'Hominides des series superieures des formations plio-villafranchiennes de l'Omo en Ethiopie (recoltes 1970, 1971 et 1972). C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 276:1981-1984.
18. Coppens Y (1980) The differences between Australopithecus and Homo; preliminary conclusions from the Omo research expedition's studies. In LK Konigsson (ed): Current Argument on Early Man. New York: Pergamon Press, pp. 207-225.
19. Coppens Y, and Sakka M (1983) Un nouveau crane d'Australopitheque. In M Sakka (ed): Morphologie Evolutive Morphogenese du Crane et Origine de l'Homme. Paris: C.N.R.S., pp. 185-194.
20. de Heinzelin J (1983) The Omo Group. Ann. Mus. Roy. Afr. Cent. Terv. Belg. Sc. Geol. 55:1-365.
21. Deloison Y (1986) Description d'un calcaneum fossile de Primate et sa comparison avec des calcaneums de Pongides, d'Australopitheques et d'Homo. C. R. Acad. Sci. III 302:257-262.
22. Delson E (1988) Chronology of South African australopith site units. In F Grine (ed): Evolutionary History of the "Robust" Australopithecines. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, pp. 317-324.
23. Feibel CS (1992) Earliest Homo debate. Nature 358:289.
24. Feibel CS, Brown FH, and McDougall I (1989) Stratigraphic context of fossil hominids from the Omo Group deposits: Northern Turkana basin, Kenya and Ethiopia. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 75:595-622.
25. Grine FE (1985) Australopithecine evolution: The deciduous dental evidence. In E Delson (ed): Ancestors: The Hard Evidence. New York: Alan R. Liss, pp. 153-167.
26. Grine FE (1988) Evolutionary history of the "robust" australopithecines: A summary and historical perspective. In FE Grine (ed): Evolutionary History of the "Robust" Australopithecines. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, pp. 509-520.
27. Grine FE, and Martin LB (1988) Enamel thickness and development in Australopithecus and Paranthropus. In FE Grine (ed): Evolutionary History of the "Robust" Australopithecines. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, pp. 3-42.
28. Harris JM, and White TD (1979) Evolution of the PlioPleistocene African Suidae. Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. 69:1-128.
29. Hill A, Ward S, Deino A, Curtis G, and Drake R (1992) The earliest Homo. Nature 355:719-722.
30. Holloway RL (1981) The endocast of the Omo L338y-6 juvenile hominid: Gracile or robust, Australopithecus"? Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 54:109-118.
31. Howell FC (1968) Omo research expedition. Nature 279:567-572.
32. Howell FC (1969a) Remains of Hominidae from Plio/Pleistocene formations in the lower Omo basin, Ethiopia. Nature 223:1234-1239.
33. Howell FC (1969b) Hominid teeth from White Sands and Brown Sands localities, lower Omo basin (Ethiopia). Quaternaria 77:47-64.
34. Howell FC (1978) Hominidae. In VJ Maglio and HBS Cooke (eds): Evolution of African Mammals. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, pp. 154-248.
35. Howell FC, and Coppens Y (1973) Deciduous teeth of Hominidae from the Pliocene/Pleistocene of the lower Omo basin, Ethiopia. J. Hum. Evol. 2:461-472.
36. Howell FC, and Coppens Y (1974) Inventory of remains of Hominidae from Pliocene/Pleistocene formations of the lower Omo basin, Ethiopia (1967-1972). Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 40:1-16.
37. Howell FC, and Coppens Y (1976) An overview of Hominidae from the Omo succession, Ethiopia. In Y Coppens, FC Howell, GL Isaac, and REF Leakey (eds): Earliest Man and Environments in the Lake Rudolf Basin. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 522-532.
38. Howell FC, and Wood BA (1974) Early hominid ulna from the Omo basin, Ethiopia. Nature 249:174-176.
39. Howell FC, Haesaerts P, and de Heinzelin J (1987) Depositional environments, archeological occurrences and hominids from Members E and F of the Shungura Formation (Omo basin, Ethiopia). J. Hum. Evol. 16:665-700.
40. Hunt K, and Vitzthum VJ (1986) Dental metric assessment of the Omo fossils: Implications for the phylogenetic position of Australopithecus africanus. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 77:141-155.
41. Johanson DC, and White TD (1979) A systematic assessment of early African hominids. Science 202:321-330.
42. Kimbel WH, and Rak Y (1993) The importance of species taxa in paleoanthropology and an argument for the phylogenetic concept of the species category. In WH Kimbel and LB Martin (eds): Species, Species Concepts, and Primate Evolution. New York: Plenum Press, pp. 461-484.
43. Kimbel WH, and White TD (1988) Variation, sexual dimorphism and the taxonomy of Australopithecus. In F Grine (ed): Evolutionary History of the "Robust" Australopithecines. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, pp. 175-192.
44. Kimbel WH, White TD, and Johanson DC (1984) Cranial morphology of Australopithecus afarensis: A comparative study based on a composite reconstruction of an adult skull. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 64:337-388.
45. Kimbel WH, White TD, and Johanson DC (1988) Implications of KNM-WT 17000 for the evolution of "robust" Australopithecus. In FE Grine (ed): Evolutionary History of the "Robust" Australopithecines. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, pp. 259-268.
46. Kimbel WH, Johanson DC, and Rak Y (1994) The first skull and other new discoveries of Australopithecus afarensis at Hadar, Ethiopia. Nature 368:449-451.
47. Leakey MD, Hay RL, Curtis GH, Drake RE, Jackes MH, and White TD (1976) Fossil hominids from the Laetolil Beds. Nature 262:460-466.
48. Leakey MG, Feibel CS, McDougall I, and Walker A (1995) New four-million-year-old hominid species from Kanapoi and Allia Bay, Kenya. Nature 376:565-571.
49. Leakey REF, and Walker AC (1988) New Australopithecus boisei specimens from east and west Lake Turkana, Kenya. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 76:1-24.
50. Macho GA, and Berner MA (1993) Enamel thickness of human maxillary molars reconsidered. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 92:189-200.
51. McKee JK(1993) Taxonomic and evolutionary affinities of Papio izodi fossils from Taung and Sterkfontein. Paleont. Afr. 30:43-49.
52. McKee JK (1996) Faunal evidence and Sterkfontein Member 2 footbones of early hominid. Science 277:1301.
53. McKee JK, Thackeray JF, and Berger LR (1995) Faunal assemblage seriation of southern African Pliocene and Pleistocene fossil deposits. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 96:235-250.
54. Pickford M (1990) Uplift of the roof of Africa and its bearing on the evolution of humankind. Hum. Evol. 5:1-20.
55. Rak Y (1983) The Australopithecine Face. New York: Academic Press.
56. Rak Y, and Howell FC (1978) Cranium of a juvenile Australopithecus boisei from the lower Omo basin, Ethiopia. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 48:345-366.
57. Ramirez-Rozzi FV (1993) Tooth development in East African Paranthropus. J. Hum. Evol. 24:429-454.
58. Robinson JT (1956) The dentition of the Australopithecinae. Transv. Mus. Mem. 9:1-179.
59. Schrenk F, Bromage TG, Betzier CG, Ring U, and Juwayeyi Y (1993) Oldest Homo and Pliocene biogeography of the Malawi rift. Nature 365:833-836.
60. Skelton RR, and McHenry HM (1992) Evolutionary relationships among early hominids. J. Hum. Evol. 23:309-349.
61. Suwa G (1988) Evolution of the "robust" australopithecines in the Omo succession: Evidence from mandibular premolar morphology. In FE Grine (ed): Evolutionary History of the "Robust" Australopithecines. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, pp. 199-222.
62. Suwa G (1989) The premolar of KNM-WT 17000 and relative anterior to posterior dental size. J. Hum. Evol. 18:795-799.
63. Suwa G (1990) A comparative analysis of hominid dental remains from the Shungura and Usno Formations, Omo valley, Ethiopia. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms.
64. Suwa G (1991) A phylogenetic analysis of Pliocene Hominidae based on premolar morphology. In A Ehara, T Kimura, O Takenaka, and M Iwamoto (eds): Primatology Today. Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 509-512.
65. Suwa G (in press) Serial allocations of isolated mandibular molars of unknown taxonomic affinities from the Shungura and Usno Formations, Ethiopia, a combined method approach. Hum. Evol.
66. Suwa G, Wood BA, and White TD (1994) Further analysis of mandibular molar crown and cusp areas in Plicene and Pleistocene hominids. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 93:407-426.
67. Tobias PV (1966) The distinctiveness of Homo habilis. Nature 209:953-957.
68. Tobias PV (1991a) Olduvai Gorge, Vol 4. The Skulls, Endocasts and Teeth of Homo habilis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
69. Tobias PV (1991b) The environmental background of hominid emergence and the appearance of the genus Homo. Hum: Evol. 6:129-142.
70. Tobias PV (1993) Earliest Homo not proven. Nature 367:307.
71. Tobias PV, and Clarke RJ (1996) Faunal evidence and Sterkfontein Member 2 footbones of early hominid. Science 277:1301-1302.
72. Turner A, and Wood B (1993a) Taxonomic and geographic diversity in robust australopithecines and other African Plio-Pleistocene larger mammals. J. Hum. Evol. 24:147-168.
73. Turner A, and Wood B (1993b) Comparative paleontological context for the evolution of the early hominid masticatory system. J. Hum. Evol. 24:301-318.
74. Vrba ES (1982) Biostratigraphy and chronology, based particularly on Bovidae, of southern hominid-associated assemblages: Makapansgat, Sterkfontein, Taung, Kromdraai, Swartkrans; and also Elandsfontein (Saldanha), Broken Hill (Kabwe) and Cave of Hearths. In H de Lumley and MA de Lumley (eds): Pretirage Ier Cong. Internat. Paleo. Humaine, Vol. II. Nice: C.N.R.S., pp. 707-752.
75. Vrba ES (1985) Early hominids in Southern Africa: Updated observations on chronological and ecological background. In PV Tobias (ed): Hominid Evolution: Past, Present and Future. New York: Alan R. Liss, pp. 195-200.
76. Vrba ES (1988) Late Pliocene climatic events and hominid evolution. In FE Grine (ed): Evolutionary History of the "Robust" Australopithecines. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, pp. 405-426.
77. Vrba ES (1996) The fossil record of African antelopes (Mammalia, Bovidae) in relation to human evolution and climate. In ES Vrba, GH Denton, TC Partrdige, and LH Burckle (eds): Paleoclimate and Evolution with Emphasis on Human Origins. New Haven: Yale University Press.
78. Walker AC, Leakey RE, Harris JM, and Brown FH (1986) 2.5-myr Australopithecus boisei from west of Lake Turkana, Kenya. Nature 322:517-522.
79. Wallace JA (1977) Gingival eruption sequences of permanent teeth in early hominids. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 46:483-194.
80. Wallace J (1978) Evolutionary trends in the early hominid dentition. In C Jolly (ed): Early Hominids of Africa. London: Duckworth, pp. 285-310.
81. Ward S, and Hill A (1987) Pliocene partial hominid mandible from Tabarin, Baringo, Kenya. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 72:21-37.
82. White TD (1977) The anterior mandibular corpus of early African Hominidae: Functional significance of shape and size. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Michigan.
83. White TD, Johanson DC, and Kimbel WH (1981) Australopithecus africanus: Its phyletic position reconsidered. S. Afr. J. Sci. 77:445-470.
84. White TD, Moore RV, and Suwa G (1984) Hadar biostratigraphy and hominid evolution. J. Vert. Paleontol. 4:575-583.
85. White TD, Suwa G, Hart WK, Walter RC, WoldeGabriel G, de Heinzelin J, Clark JD, Asfaw B, and Vrba E (1993) New discoveries of Australopithecus at Maka in Ethiopia. Nature 366:261-265.
86. White TD, Suwa G, and Asfaw B (1994) Australopithecus ramidus, a new species of early hominid from Aramis, Ethiopia. Nature 377:306-312.
87. White TD, Suwa G, and Asfaw B (1995) Corrigendum: Australopithecus ramidus, a new species of early hominid from Aramis, Ethiopia. Nature 375:88.
88. WoldeGabriel G, White TD, Suwa G, Renne P, de Heinzelin J, Hart WK, and Heiken G (1994) Ecology and temporal placement of early Pliocene hominids at Aramis, Ethiopia. Nature 371:330-333.
89. WoldeGabriel G, Renne P, White TD, Suwa G, de Heinzelin J, Hart WK, and Heiken G (1995) Age of early hominids. Nature 376:559.
90. Wolpoff MH (1978) Analogies and interpretation in paleoanthropology. In C Jolly (ed): Early hominids of Africa. London: Duckworth, pp. 461-503.
91. Wolpoff MH (1988) Divergence between early hominid lineages: The roles of competition and culture. In FE Grine (ed): Evolutionary History of the "Robust" Aus-tralopithecines. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, pp. 485-497.
92. Wood B (1991a) A paleoanthropological model for determining the limits of early hominid taxonomic variability. Paleontol. Afr. 28:71-77.
93. Wood B (1991b) Koobi Fora Research Project, Vol. 4. Hominid Cranial Remains. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
94. Wood B (1992) Origin and evolution of the genus Homo, Nature 355:783-790.
95. Wood B (1993) Early Homo: How many species? In WH Kimbel and LB Martin (eds): Species, Species Concepts, and Primate Evolution. New York: Plenum Press, pp. 485-522.
96. Wood BA, and Abbott SA (1983) Analysis of the dental morphology of Plio-Pleistocene hominids. I. Mandibular molars: Crown area measurements and morphological traits. J. Anat. 736:197-219.
97. Wood BA, and Engleman CA (1988) Analysis of the dental morphology of Plio-Pleistocene hominids. V. Maxillary postcanine tooth morphology. J. Anat. 761:1-35.
98. Wood BA, and Stack CG (1980) Does allometry explain the differences between "gracile" and "robust" australopithecines? Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 52:55-62.
99. Wood BA, and Uytterschaut H (1987) Analysis of the dental morphology of Plio-Pleistocene hominids. III. Mandibular premolar crowns. J. Anat. 154:121-156.
100. Wood BA, Abbott SA, and Graham SH (1983) Analysis of the dental morphology of Plio-Pleistocene hominids. II. Mandibular molars - study of cusp areas, fissure pattern and cross sectional shape of the crown. J. Anat. 156:107-139.
101. Wood BA, Abbott SA, and Uytterschaut H (1988) Analysis of the dental morphology of Plio-Pleistocene hominids. IV. Mandibular postcanine root morphology. J Anat. 137:287-314.
102. Wood B, Wood C, and Konigsberg L (1994) Paranthropus boisei: An example of evolutionary stasis? Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 95:117-136.