Late miocene hominin teeth from the gona paleoanthropological research project area, Afar, Ethiopia

Scott W. Simpson, Lynnette Kleinsasser, Jay Quade, Naomi E. Levin, William C. McIntosh, Nelia Dunbar, Sileshi Semaw, Michael J. Rogers

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

Since 2000, significant collections of Latest Miocene hominin fossils have been recovered from Chad, Kenya, and Ethiopia. These fossils have provided a better understanding of earliest hominin biology and context. Here, we describe five hominin teeth from two periods (ca. 5.4Million-years-ago and ca. 6.3Ma) that were recovered from the Adu-Asa Formation in the Gona Paleoanthropological Research Project area in the Afar, Ethiopia that we assign to either Hominina, gen. et sp. indet. or Ardipithecus kadabba. These specimens are compared with extant African ape and other Latest Miocene and Early Pliocene hominin teeth. The derived morphology of the large, non-sectorial maxillary canine and mandibular third premolar links them with later hominins and they are phenetically distinguishable and thus phyletically distinct from extant apes.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)68-82
Number of pages15
JournalJournal of human evolution
Volume81
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 1 2015
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Ardipithecus kadabba
  • Ardipithecus ramidus
  • Hominina
  • Late miocene
  • Orrorin
  • Western ethiopian escarpment

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
  • Anthropology

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