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Williams, SA, Prang, TC, Meyer, MR, Nalley, TK, Van Der Merwe, R, Yelverton, C, García-Martínez, D, Russo, GA, Ostrofsky, KR, Spear, J, Eyre, J, Grabowski, M, Nalla, S, Bastir, M, Schmid, P, Churchill, SE and Berger, LR (2021) New fossils of Australopithecus sediba reveal a nearly complete lower back. eLife, 10. ISSN 2050-084X
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New fossils of Australopithecus sediba reveal a nearly complete lower back.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (4MB) | Preview |
Abstract
Adaptations of the lower back to bipedalism are frequently discussed but infrequently demonstrated in early fossil hominins. Newly discovered lumbar vertebrae contribute to a near-complete lower back of Malapa Hominin 2 (MH2), offering additional insights into posture and locomotion in Australopithecus sediba. We show that MH2 possessed a lower back consistent with lumbar lordosis and other adaptations to bipedalism, including an increase in the width of intervertebral articular facets from the upper to lower lumbar column ('pyramidal configuration'). These results contrast with some recent work on lordosis in fossil hominins, where MH2 was argued to demonstrate no appreciable lordosis ('hypolordosis') similar to Neandertals. Our three-dimensional geometric morphometric (3D GM) analyses show that MH2's nearly complete middle lumbar vertebra is human-like in overall shape but its vertebral body is somewhat intermediate in shape between modern humans and great apes. Additionally, it bears long, cranially and ventrally oriented costal (transverse) processes, implying powerful trunk musculature. We interpret this combination of features to indicate that A. sediba used its lower back in both bipedal and arboreal positional behaviors, as previously suggested based on multiple lines of evidence from other parts of the skeleton and reconstructed paleobiology of A. sediba.
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Uncontrolled Keywords: | 0601 Biochemistry and Cell Biology |
| Subjects: | Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology |
| Divisions: | Biological & Environmental Sciences (from Sep 19) |
| Publisher: | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
| Related URLs: | |
| Date Deposited: | 03 Dec 2021 12:45 |
| Last Modified: | 03 Dec 2021 12:45 |
| DOI or ID number: | 10.7554/eLife.70447 |
| URI: | https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/15868 |
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