Drimolen cranium DNH 155 documents microevolution in an early hominin species
- 9 November 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Nature Ecology & Evolution
- Vol. 5 (1), 38-45
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-01319-6
Abstract
Paranthropus robustus is a small-brained extinct hominin from South Africa characterized by derived, robust craniodental morphology. The most complete known skull of this species is DNH 7 from Drimolen Main Quarry, which differs from P. robustus specimens recovered elsewhere in ways attributed to sexual dimorphism. Here, we describe a new fossil specimen from Drimolen Main Quarry, dated from approximately 2.04–1.95 million years ago, that challenges this view. DNH 155 is a well-preserved adult male cranium that shares with DNH 7 a suite of primitive and derived features unlike those seen in adult P. robustus specimens from other chronologically younger deposits. This refutes existing hypotheses linking sexual dimorphism, ontogeny and social behaviour within this taxon, and clarifies hypotheses concerning hominin phylogeny. We document small-scale morphological changes in P. robustus associated with ecological change within a short time frame and restricted geography. This represents the most highly resolved evidence yet of microevolutionary change within an early hominin species.This publication has 66 references indexed in Scilit:
- New hominid fossils from Member 1 of the Swartkrans formation, South AfricaJournal of Human Evolution, 2012
- MrBayes 3.2: Efficient Bayesian Phylogenetic Inference and Model Choice Across a Large Model SpaceSystematic Biology, 2012
- Divergence Time Estimation Using Fossils as Terminal Taxa and the Origins of LissamphibiaSystematic Biology, 2011
- Contemporary flowstone development links early hominin bearing cave deposits in South AfricaEarth and Planetary Science Letters, 2011
- The pattern of endocranial ontogenetic shape changes in humansJournal of Anatomy, 2009
- The Homo floresiensis cranium (LB1): Size, scaling, and early Homo affinitiesProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2008
- Dental microwear texture analysis shows within-species diet variability in fossil homininsNature, 2005
- Linking desert evolution and coastal upwelling: Pliocene climate change in NamibiaGeology, 2005
- Confidence Limits on Phylogenies: An Approach Using the BootstrapEvolution, 1985
- Morphology, Performance and FitnessAmerican Zoologist, 1983