Australopithecus garhi

  • Ethiopia

Australopithecus Garhi is a species of the extinct genus Australopithecus, which lived in what is now Ethiopia 2.5 million years ago.

How close Australopithecus Garhi to the immediate ancestors of the genus Homo, and thus of man is, is unclear.

Naming

The name of the genus Australopithecus is derived from the Latin australis ( " southern " ) and Greek πίθηκος, AltGr. pronounced píthēkos ( "Monkey "). The epithet Garhi comes from the Afar language and means " surprise, surprise ". Australopithecus Garhi thus means roughly " the surprising southern ape ".

The type specimen

The species was described in 1999 by a paleontologist Berhane Asfaw and Group by Tim White for the first time scientifically.

Type specimen of Australopithecus Garhi is a fragmentary preserved skull with relatively large molars (inventory number BOU-VP-12/130 ), which on 20 November 1997 by Yohannes Haile - Selassie at Aramis in the Afar Triangle, west of the modern Awash River on the eastern edge of the Bouri peninsula, was discovered. Get large parts of the frontal bone and the parietal bone and the maxilla with nearly complete dentition. The type specimen is preserved in the National Museum of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa.

The strata from which the skull was exposed by natural erosion, were dated using the argon - argon method at an age of 2.5 million years. The internal volume of the skull was specified in the original description with about 450 cm3; for comparison: a chimpanzee brain is about 400 cm3, that of modern man about 1400 cm3 in size.

In the first description of the species more fossils were included from the same region, including more skull fragments, upper arm bones, finger bones and teeth on the lower jaw ( BOU -VP -17 /1). Mention various finds the same old homininer fossils from the years 1990 and 1996 to 1998 also. These findings indicate individuals that had a man similar ratio of thigh to lower leg length and an ape- like ratio of humerus length to forearm length. The assignment of these bone finds the so-called " gracile australopithecines " - which also Australopithecus anamensis are, Australopithecus afarensis, Australopithecus africanus and expected - was taken for granted, their membership of a particular kind, however, was left open. Since the membership of this skeletal remains on the nature of the type specimen was likely, but not clearly covered, the authors were based in the first description solely on the skull BOU-VP-12/130.

Habitat

The habitat of Australopithecus Garhi was described in a parallel to the first description published study. Consequently, there were 2.5 million years ago in the Afar region of a landscape that consisted of savannas and fresh water lakes. It is also mentioned in the study also states that, indications for the use of the first stone tools were discovered in the strata of the region from which the bones were recovered. Whether this evidence - alleged cut marks on animal bones - with Australopithecus Garhi can be associated, but is unclear.

Classification

The large molars and the relatively small brain size speak to the authors, according to the first description of a classification of the fossils in the taxon Australopithecus. In the first description also states Australopithecus Garhi descended from Australopithecus afarensis and is a possible ancestor of the earliest members of the genus Homo; the oldest known of the genus Homo associated fossil, discovered by Friedemann Schrenk lower jaw of Homo rudolfensis (inventory number UR 501), has been dated at 2.4 million years. However, the authors point out that Australopithecus Garhi time and the proper body forth the early members of the genus Homo stand so close that - if further discoveries have been added - the kind even Homo could be assigned.

But perhaps part of the fossil BOU-VP-12/130 - the type specimen of Australopithecus Garhi - the same form as the circle fossils asked to Paranthropus aethiopicus; thereto indicate common features of the discovered lower jaw. If this is the case, identified as Australopithecus Garhi fossils should be renamed and called Paranthropus aethiopicus.

Pictures of Australopithecus garhi

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