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Irish, JD, Bailey, SE, Guatelli-Steinberg, D, Delezene, LK and Berger, LR (2018) Ancient teeth, phenetic affinities, and African hominins: Another look at where Homo naledi fits in. Jouranl of Human Evolution, 122. pp. 108-123. ISSN 0047-2484
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IRISH Naledi Accepted Corrected Version.pdf - Accepted Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (5MB) | Preview |
Abstract
A new species of Homo, Homo naledi, was described in 2015 based on the hominin skeletal remains from the Dinaledi Chamber of the Rising Star cave system, South Africa. Subsequent craniodental comparative analyses, both phenetic and cladistic, served to support its taxonomic distinctiveness. Here we provide a new quantitative analysis, where up to 78 nonmetric crown and root traits of the permanent dentition were compared among samples of H. naledi (including remains from the recently discovered Lesedi Chamber) and eight other species from Africa: Australopithecus afarensis, Australopithecus africanus, Paranthropus boisei, Paranthropus robustus, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Middle Pleistocene Homo sp., and Pleistocene and Holocene Homo sapiens. By using the mean measure of divergence distance statistic, phenetic affinities were calculated among samples to evaluate interspecific relatedness. The objective was to compare the results with those previously obtained, to assess further the taxonomic validity of the Rising Star hominin species. In accordance with earlier findings, H. naledi appears most similar dentally to the other African Homo samples. However, the former species is characterized by its retention and full expression of features relating to the main cusps, as well as the root numbers, with a near absence of accessory traits-including many that, based on various cladistic studies, are plesiomorphic in both extinct and extant African hominins. As such, the present findings provide additional support for the taxonomic validity of H. naledi as a distinct species of Homo.
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Uncontrolled Keywords: | 0603 Evolutionary Biology, 1601 Anthropology, 2101 Archaeology |
| Subjects: | C Auxiliary Sciences of History > CC Archaeology Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology Q Science > QM Human anatomy |
| Divisions: | Natural Sciences & Psychology (closed 31 Aug 19) |
| Publisher: | Elsevier |
| Related URLs: | |
| Date Deposited: | 14 Aug 2018 11:15 |
| Last Modified: | 04 Sep 2021 10:13 |
| DOI or ID number: | 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.05.007 |
| URI: | https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/9090 |
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