ArticleNature communications2016
Mechanical evidence that Australopithecus sediba was limited in its ability to eat hard foods.
Article in Nature communications, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed.
- Bite force production and the origin ofRoyal Society open science · 2025Article
- Dynamic finite element modelling of the macaque mandible during a complete mastication gape cycle.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Article
- An interpretable machine learning approach to study the relationship beetwen retrognathia and skull anatomy.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Interspecific interactions between sympatric apes.iScience · 2022Article
- Mechanical compensation in the evolution of the early hominin feeding apparatus.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
- Comparative biomechanics of theInterface focus · 2021Article
- Anthroengineering: an independent interdisciplinary field.Interface focus · 2021Article
- The cranial biomechanics and feeding performance ofInterface focus · 2021Article
- Evolutionary biomechanics: hard tissues and soft evidence?Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2021Article
- Biomechanics of the mandible of Macaca mulatta during the power stroke of mastication: Loading, deformation, and strain regimes and the impact of food type.Journal of human evolution · 2020Article
- The ontogeny of maximum bite force in humans.Journal of anatomy · 2020Article
- Clarifying relationships between cranial form and function in tapirs, with implications for the dietary ecology of early hominins.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Broad-scale morpho-functional traits of the mandible suggest no hard food adaptation in the hominin lineage.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Article
- Computational biomechanical analyses demonstrate similar shell-crushing abilities in modern and ancient arthropods.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2018Article
- A two-million-year-long hydroclimatic context for hominin evolution in southeastern Africa.Nature · 2018Article
- Evidence that metallic proxies are unsuitable for assessing the mechanics of microwear formation and a new theory of the meaning of microwear.Royal Society open science · 2018Article
- Computer simulations show that Neanderthal facial morphology represents adaptation to cold and high energy demands, but not heavy biting.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2018Article
- Biting mechanics and niche separation in a specialized clade of primate seed predators.PloS one · 2018Article
- In vivo bone strain and finite element modeling of a rhesus macaque mandible during mastication.Zoology (Jena, Germany) · 2017Article
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21 authors.
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Abstract
Australopithecus sediba has been hypothesized to be a close relative of the genus Homo. Here we show that MH1, the type specimen of A. sediba, was not optimized to produce high molar bite force and appears to have been limited in its ability to consume foods that were mechanically challenging to eat. Dental microwear data have previously been interpreted as indicating that A. sediba consumed hard foods, so our findings illustrate that mechanical data are essential if one aims to reconstruct a relatively complete picture of feeding adaptations in extinct hominins. An implication of our study is that the key to understanding the origin of Homo lies in understanding how environmental changes disrupted gracile australopith niches. Resulting selection pressures led to changes in diet and dietary adaption that set the stage for the emergence of our genus.
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