New fossils from Kromdraai and Drimolen, South Africa, and their distinctiveness among Paranthropus robustus.

ABSTRACT: Most fossil hominin species are sampled with spatial, temporal or anatomical biases that can hinder assessments of their paleodiversity, and may not yield genuine evolutionary signals. We use new fossils from the Kromdraai (Unit P) and Drimolen sites (South Africa) to provide insights into the paleodiversity of the Lower Pleistocene robust australopith, Paranthropus robustus. Our focus is the morphology of the temporal bone and the relationships between size and shape (allometry) of the semi-circular canals (SCC), an aspect that has not yet been investigated among southern African australopiths. We find significant size and shape SCC differences between P. robustus from Kromdraai, Drimolen and Swartkrans. This site-related variation is consistent with other differences observed on the temp

SUBMITTER: Braga J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9385619 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature