Reconstructed skull of Au. sedibaLEE BERGER, UNIVERSITY OF WITWATERSRANDThe fossilized teeth, jaws, upper and lower limbs, thorax, and vertebrae from three members of the species Australopithecus sediba reveal features characteristic of both primitive apes and the genus Homo, to which modern humans belong, according to six papers published online today (April 11) in Science. Whether Au. sediba is a definitive ancestor or merely a close relative of Homo, however, remains uncertain.
“A good fossil is one that expands our knowledge, and a great fossil is one that challenges our knowledge,” said Scott Simpson, a professor of anatomy at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, who was not involved in the work. “These are great fossils,” he said. “They don’t fit into any pre-existing bin, they really are something different.”
The fossilized skeletons of multiple Au. sediba individuals were discovered in a cave in Malapa, South Africa, in 2008, and were designated as a new species of hominid in 2010. “It is almost unparalleled in our field to find so many complete individuals of such great antiquity,” said Brian Richmond, a professor of anthropology at The George Washington University in Washington, DC, who also did not ...
