ArticleScientific reports2022
New fossils from Kromdraai and Drimolen, South Africa, and their distinctiveness among Paranthropus robustus.
Article in Scientific reports, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Complex and diverse patterns of neurocranial development in Australopithecus, Paranthropus and Homo.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Enamel proteins reveal biological sex and genetic variability in southern AfricanScience (New York, N.Y.) · 2025Article
- Hominin fossils from Kromdraai and Drimolen informScience advances · 2023Article
- First evidence of the link between internal and external structure of the human inner ear otolith system using 3D morphometric modeling.Scientific reports · 2023Article
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4 authors.
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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 temporal bone. P. robustus from Kromdraai Unit P is distinctive because of its smaller temporal bone and SCC, and its proportionally less developed posterior SCC, independently of age and sex. We emphasize the importance of allometry to interpret paleodiversity in P. robustus as either the consequence of differences in body size, or as yet unknown factors. Some features of the inner ear of P. robustus represent directional selection soon after its origin, whereas the size and shape variations described here may result from evolutionary changes.
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