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The terms australopithecines, et. al., come from a former classification as members of a distinct subfamily, the Australopithecinae. [6] Members of Australopithecus are sometimes referred to as the "gracile australopithecines", while Paranthropus are called the "robust australopithecines". [10] [11]
They are also referred to as the robust australopithecines. They lived between approximately 2.9 and 1.2 million years ago (mya) from the end of the Pliocene to the Middle Pleistocene . Paranthropus is characterised by robust skulls , with a prominent gorilla -like sagittal crest along the midline—which suggest strong chewing muscles—and ...
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 ...
There is still some debate among academics whether certain African hominid species of this time, such as A. robustus and A. boisei, constitute members of the same genus; if so, they would be considered to be "robust australopiths" while the others would be considered "gracile australopiths".
The robust Paranthropus boisei (left) vs the gracile A. anamensis (right) Australopithecus species are thought to have eaten mainly fruit, vegetables, and tubers, and perhaps easy-to-catch animals such as small lizards.
A further division of AMH into "early" or "robust" vs. "post-glacial" or "gracile" subtypes has since been used for convenience. The emergence of "gracile AMH" is taken to reflect a process towards a smaller and more fine-boned skeleton beginning around 50,000–30,000 years ago. [97]
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.
The researchers found that the Dmanisi hominins "cannot unequivocally be referred either to H. habilis or to H. erectus" and that there, in regards to early Homo, was a "continuum of forms"; Skull 5 appears to share many primitive features with H. habilis whereas Skull 1, with the largest brain, is more similar to African H. ergaster/H. erectus ...