What features do the Australopithecus species share?
They were similar to modern humans in that they were bipedal (that is, they walked on two legs), but, like apes, they had small brains. Their canine teeth were smaller than those found in apes, and their cheek teeth were larger than those of modern humans.
Which traits are shared by gracile and robust australopithecines?
Similarities Between Gracile and Robust Feature-wise, they have a low lying braincase. Also, the cranial and facial morphology of them indicates different diets and thus separate niches. Besides, it helps to explain the co-evolution of these two groups in the same landscapes for 2 million years.
What is a defining feature of Paranthropus Aethiopicus?
P. aethiopicus has a strongly protruding face, large megadont teeth, a powerful jaw, and a well-developed sagittal crest on top of skull, indicating huge chewing muscles, with a strong emphasis on the muscles that connected toward the back of the crest and created strong chewing forces on the front teeth.
What are australopithecines classified?
Australopithecus (from Latin australis, meaning “of the south,” and Greek pithekos, meaning “ape”) is a group of extinct hominids that are closely related to modern humans. They were widespread in eastern and southern Africa from about 4 million years ago (mya) to 2 mya, appearing during the Pliocene epoch.
What features does Australopithecus sediba share with apes?
A. sediba also displayed humanlike characteristics in its hand structure. Apes and earlier australopiths possessed long, robust fingers and reduced thumbs that facilitated quadrupedal locomotion as well as their movement between tree branches.
What are the characteristics of Australopithecus africanus?
afarensis, Au. africanus had a rounder cranium housing a larger brain and smaller teeth, but it also had some ape-like features including relatively long arms and a strongly sloping face that juts out from underneath the braincase with a pronounced jaw.
Which australopithecines are gracile and robust?
Australopithecus afarensis and africanus, and the other species above, are known as gracile australopithecines, because of their relatively lighter build, especially in the skull and teeth. (Gracile means “slender”, and in paleoanthropology is used as an antonym to “robust”.)
What is gracile and robust?
In the case of australopiths, “gracile” and “robust” refer to the relative size of the jaws, teeth and chewing muscles (all contributing to the “masticatory apparatus”). Traditionally, graciles include the ≥2 million year old Australopithecus afarensis and africanus, and robusts include the later A.
Is Australopithecus Aethiopicus robust?
Australopithecus aethiopicus is the most primitive of the robust species. I use genus Australopithecus because it is thought to be descended from Au. afarensis. In addition, Paranthropus was the genus name assigned to the South African robust form, P.
Which of the following are shared derived * characteristics of the species found within the genus Paranthropus?
All three species share similar physical characteristics – a relatively small body and a ‘robust’ or strongly built skull including large lower jaws with extremely large molar teeth.
What are Australopithecus known for?
The genus Australopithecus is a collection of hominin species that span the time period from 4.18 to about 2 million years ago. Australopiths were terrestrial bipedal ape-like animals that had large chewing teeth with thick enamel caps, but whose brains were only very slightly larger than those of great apes.
Which of the following features are related to Australopithecus?
Some of the physical features of Australopithecus are: – Australopithecus were bipedal, which means that they walked using two legs. – They had a small brain and a long jaw. – Average cranial capacity of Australopithecus was 440 cc and it comprised 1.3% of their body weight.
Is Australopithecus aethiopicus a robust species?
In Australopithecus: Australopithecus aethiopicus Australopithecus aethiopicus (2.7–2.3 mya), formerly known as Paranthropus aethopicus, is the earliest of the so-called robust australopiths, a group that also includes A. robustus and A. boisei (described below).
Are the brows of AU aethiopicus different from other species?
However, Au. aethiopicus ’s brows were smaller than the other two species. Their third maxillary molars were convergent, meaning they were positioned more medially than the first and second. While some researchers disagree, others find evidence for a more derived venous sinus system in the crania of the robust forms.
What does Australopithecus mean?
Australopithecus ( / ˌɒstrələˈpɪθɪkəs /, OS-trə-lə-PITH-i-kəs; from Latin australis ‘southern’, and Greek πίθηκος (pithekos) ‘ape’; singular: australopith) is a genus of early hominins that existed in Africa during the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene.
How did Australopithecus aethiopicus survive in its environment?
Since it is assumed that Au. aethiopicus is descended from Au. afarensis, the environment was favoring species with dietary adaptations that allowed them to survive. “Australopithecus aethiopicus tool use” by Keenan Taylor.