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标题：One hominin taxon or two at Malapa Cave? Implications for the origins of Homo
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作者：Yoel Rak ; Eli Geffen ; William Hylander 等
期刊名称：South African Journal of Science
印刷版ISSN：0038-2353
电子版ISSN：1996-7489
出版年度：2021
卷号：117
期号：5-6
页码：1-10
DOI：10.17159/sajs.2021/8747
语种：English
出版社：The Foundation for Research Development
摘要：A report on the skeletons of two individuals from the Malapa cave site in South Africa attributes them both to a new hominin species, Australopithecus sediba.However, our analysis of the specimens’ mandibles indicates that Australopithecus sediba is not a ‘Homo-like australopith’, a transitional species between Australopithecus africanus and Homo.According to our results, the specimens represent two separate genera: Australopithecus and Homo.These genera are known to have jointly occupied sites, as seen in several early South African caves, so one cannot rule out the possibility that Malapa also contains remains of the two taxa.Our results lead us to additionally conclude that all the Australopithecus species on which the relevant mandibular anatomy is preserved (not only the ‘robust’ australopiths but also the ‘gracile’ – more generalised – ones) are too specialised to constitute an evolutionary ancestor of Homo sapiens.Furthermore, given that the Malapa site contains representatives of two hominin branches, one of which appears to be Homo, we must seek evidence of our origins much earlier than the date assigned to Malapa, approximately 2 million years before present.Support for this claim can be found in Ethiopian fossils attributed to the genus Homo and dated at 2.4 and 2.8 million years before present.
关键词：Australopithecus sediba;Homo spp.;Malapa hominins;hominin phylogeny;South Africa