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Members of Australopithecus are sometimes referred to as the "gracile australopithecines", while Paranthropus are called the "robust australopithecines". [ 11 ] [ 12 ] The australopithecines occurred in the Late Miocene sub-epoch and were bipedal , and they were dentally similar to humans, but with a brain size not much larger than that of ...
However, it has been argued by some that Paranthropus is an invalid grouping and synonymous with Australopithecus, so the species is also often classified as Australopithecus robustus. Robust australopithecines—as opposed to gracile australopithecines—are characterised by heavily built skulls capable of producing high stresses and bite ...
Paranthropus had a massively built, tall and flat skull, with a prominent gorilla-like sagittal crest along the midline which anchored large temporalis muscles used in chewing. [32] Like other australopithecines, Paranthropus exhibited sexual dimorphism, with males notably larger than females.
The scientific community took 20 more years to widely accept Australopithecus as a member of the human family tree. In 1997, an almost complete Australopithecus skeleton with skull was found in the Sterkfontein caves of Gauteng, South Africa. It is now called "Little Foot" and it is around 3.7 million years old.
KNM ER 406 is an almost complete fossilized skull of the species Paranthropus boisei. [1] It was discovered in Koobi Fora, Kenya by Richard Leakey and H. Mutua in 1969. [2] This species is grouped with the Australopitecine genus, Paranthropus boisei because of the robusticity of the skull and the prominent characteristics.
Homo (from Latin homÅ 'human') is a genus of great ape (family Hominidae) that emerged from the genus Australopithecus and encompasses only a single extant species, Homo sapiens (modern humans), along with a number of extinct species (collectively called archaic humans) classified as either ancestral or closely related to modern humans; these include Homo erectus and Homo neanderthalensis.
Paranthropus aethiopicus is an extinct species of robust australopithecine from the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene of East Africa about 2.7–2.3 million years ago. However, it is much debated whether or not Paranthropus is an invalid grouping and is synonymous with Australopithecus, so the species is also often classified as Australopithecus aethiopicus. [1]
However, it is also argued that Paranthropus is an invalid grouping and synonymous with Australopithecus, so the species is also often classified as Australopithecus boisei. Robust australopithecines are characterised by heavily built skulls capable of producing high stresses and bite forces , and some of the largest molars with the thickest ...