Australopithecines

PREPARED BY:
GROUP 1
 Australopithecines
Scientific Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Primates

Suborder: Haplorhini

Infraorder: Simiformes

Family: Hominidae

Subfamily: Homininae

Tribe: Hominini

Subtribe: †Australopithecina
Who Was Australopithecus?
Australopithecus literally means 'southern ape.' It is an
extinct genus of members of the human family tree.
Scientists generally accept five species: A.
afarensus, A. africanus, A. anamensis, A. garhi, and A.
sediba, as belonging to the genus.
 The australopithecines are the earliest Hominin
ancestors that show definite evidence of
bipedalism. They possessed a gracile (less robust)
body form and were scavengers; opportunistic
omnivores, scavenging meat from carcasses and
feeding off a wide range of resources. They
originated in East Africa but later reached South
Africa. Some australopithecine species have even
been found in Chad, Central Africa, suggesting
covered a relatively wide range.
 History of Discovery
Year of Discovery:1924
The Taung child, found in 1924, was the first to establish that
early fossil humans occurred in Africa. After Prof. Raymond
Dart described it and named the species Australopithecines
(meaning southern ape of Africa), it took more than 20 years for
the scientific community to widely
accept Australopithecus Africanus as a member of the human
family tree.
Height: Males: average 4 ft 6 in (138 cm); Females: average 3 ft
9 in (115 cm)
Weight: Males: average 90 lbs (41 kg); Females: average 66 lb
(30 kg)
 CHARACTERISTICS
 The Australopithecus species, referred to as Australopithecines,
had features that were both human-like and ape-like. Their
brains were smaller and more in the range of the brains of
modern apes. They tended to have longer arms that seemed well-
suited to climbing. In general, their facial features looked more
ape-like than human, with sloping faces and jutting jaws.
 However, their skeletons show that they walked upright.
Furthermore, the teeth of some species were more like human
teeth. Perhaps more importantly, they showed that our ancestors
started walking upright before the evolution of larger brains.
 The Genus Australopithecus
Australopithecus Afarensis
• Known as the Lucy’s species.
• Fossils where found on Eastern Africa
(Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania).
•They lived 3.85 to 2.95 million years ago.
•They grew rapidly like chimpanzees.
•This species have a ape like face, small brain,
long arms and curved fingers adapted for
climbing trees and a body that stood on two legs
and regularly walked upright.
• Fossils where found in as early as 1930s.
 The Genus Australopithecus
Australopithecus anamensis
• Fossils where found in Eastern Africa ( Lake
Turkana, Kenya, Middle Awash and Ethiopia).
• Lived 4.2 to 3.9 million years ago.
• In 1965 a research team led by Bryan Patterson
from Harvard University discovered a single arm
bone at Kenapoi in Northern Kenya but without
additional fossils Patterson could not identify the
species to which it may belong.
• In 1994 a research team led by
paleoanthropologist Leave Leakey found a
numerous teeth and fragments of bone at the same
site and they determined that the fossils is hominin
and they named it Australopithecus Anamensis.
 The Genus Australopithecus
Australopithecus Garhi
• Fossils found in Eastern Africa
(The site of Bouri, Middle Awash, and Ethiopia)
•Lived 2.5 million years ago
• Skeleton indicates longer femur compared to
other Australopithecus specimens like Lucy
• Long and strong arm had been maintained
• The team led by Ethiopian
paleoanthropologist Berhane Asfaw and Tim
White named the fossil they found as
Australopithecus Garhi (Garhi means surprise
in Afar language)
 The Genus Australopithecus
Australopithecus sediba
• Fossils found in Southern Africa
• Lived 1.977 to 1.98
(looked like near the time when Homo
evolved)
• A complete fossil found in Makaka cave and
this skeleton shows a body similar to that of
other Australopithecines
• Had a more human like pattern of locomotion
than a fossil attributed to Homo Habilis
 The Genus Australopithecus
Australopithecus Africanus
• Fossils found in Southern Africa
• Lived 3.3 to 2.1 million years ago
• Had a rounder cranium housing a larger brain
and smaller teeth
• Ape like features including relatively long
arms
• It walked bipedally
• It’s shoulder and hand bones indicate they
were also adapted for climbing
Australopithecine (center), ape
(left), and modern human (right) Australopithecines skull
compared side by side. Image: Wits
University.