Revision of fossil hominid jaws from the plio/pleistocene of hadar, in ethiopia including a new species of the genusHomo (hominoidea: homininae)

Model of a hypothetical protohominid dentition and its implications for hominid phylogeny

“…GREENFIELD (1979) LEAKEY, NAPIER, and TOBIAS, 1964. We thus have the small-toothed Ramapithecus or Homo becoming a large-toothed gracile Australopithecus, which then regressed into a small-toothed Homo. This hypothesis of evolutionary reversal was challenged by several authors (NAPIER, 1964;YON KOENIGSWALD, 1966;LEAKEY, 1971 ;JOHANSON & EDEY, 1981 ;FERGUSON, 1983) who maintained that A. africanus is not ancestral to Homo, but collateral.…”

“…As a result of more detailed comparative morphological analyses the new species, 'A. afarensis,' turned out to be a composite of fossils from three distinct taxa: a pongid, Praeanthropus africanus (WEINERT, 1950), (FERGUSON, 1986): A ustralopithecus africanus miodentatus FERGU-SON, 1987: and Homo antiquus FERGUSON, 1984. After 20 years of mistaken identification, it was conceded that Ramapithecus is indeed a pongid after all (PILBEAM, 1984). GOULD (1987) pronounced that "paleontologists have abandoned the once popular notion that Ramapithecus might be a source of human ancestry.…”

Reconstruction and re-evaluation of the skull ofHomo antiquus (hominoidea: Homininae) from Hadar

“…"'Australopithecus afarensis'" was later found to be a synthesis of pongid and hominid fossils (FERGUSON, 1983). On the basis of their dental morphometrics, the true hominids from Hadar are shown to include some specimens which agree with A. africanus DART, 1925; and others that represent a new species, Homo antiquus, of which A.L.…”

“…288-1 is not to try and create a facsimile of the original individual, but to correlate the fossil material in a way that is reasonably correct. Since the mandible and teeth are identifiable as hominine (FERGUSON, 1984), the use of Homo as a model is not a bias. It is expected that the reconstruction will then fall within the normal range of variation for the species.…”

“…The skull of Homo antiquus FERGUSON, 1984, represented by cranial remains of a fossilized skeleton, A.L. 288-1, from the Plio/Pleistocene of Hadar in Ethiopia, is reconstructed and the procedure described.…”