[PaleoAnthropology • 2021] Homo bodoensis • Resolving the “Muddle in the Middle”

Homo bodoensis 

Roksandic, Radović, Wu & Bae, 2021

DOI: 10.1002/evan.21929

Abstract

Recent developments in the field of palaeoanthropology necessitate the suppression of two hominin taxa and the introduction of a new species of hominins to help resolve the current nebulous state of Middle Pleistocene (Chibanian) hominin taxonomy. In particular, the poorly defined and variably understood hominin taxa Homo heidelbergensis (both sensu stricto and sensu lato) and Homo rhodesiensis need to be abandoned as they fail to reflect the full range of hominin variability in the Middle Pleistocene. Instead, we propose: (1) introduction of a new taxon, Homo bodoensis sp. nov., as an early Middle Pleistocene ancestor of the Homo sapiens lineage, with a pan-African distribution that extends into the eastern Mediterranean (Southeast Europe and the Levant); (2) that many of the fossils from Western Europe (e.g. Sima de los Huesos) currently assigned to H. heidelbergensis s.s. be reassigned to Homo neanderthalensis to reflect the early appearance of Neanderthal derived traits in the Middle Pleistocene in the region; and (3) that the Middle Pleistocene Asian fossils, particularly from China, likely represent a different lineage altogether.

Keywords: hominin taxonomy, Homo bodoensis, Homo heidelbergensis, Homo rhodesiensis, Middle Pleistocene

Homo bodoensis sp. nov. holotype partial cranium Bodo 1 (Middle Awash, Ethiopia). Frontal (a), left lateral (b), superior (c) inferior (d) views. Scale bar: 5 cm.

Order Primates Linnaeus 1758.

Suborder Anthropoidea Mivart 1864.

Superfamily Hominoidea Gray 1825.

Family Hominidae Gray 1825.

Tribe Hominini Gray 1825.

Genus Homo Linnaeus 1758.

Homo bodoensis sp. nov.

Etymology: The name bodoensis refers to the site of Bodo D'ar where the fossil specimen Bodo 1 was discovered.

Holotype: Bodo 1, a partial cranium of an adult (presumably male) individual, preserving the face and the anterior braincase, found in autumn 1976 by Alemayehu Asfaw, Paul Whitehead and other members of the Rift Valley Research Mission in Ethiopia headed by Jon Kalb.123, 124 The specimen is currently curated in the National Museum of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  

Type locality: Bodo D'ar, the Middle Awash research area, Afar Depression, the northwestern part of the former Hararghe Province, Ethiopia.

Geological age and stratigraphic position: Upper Bodo Sand Unit.123 Dated to ca. 600 ka by laser-fusion 40Ar/39Ar technique (0.64 ± 0.03 Ma), biostratigraphy and tephrochronology.127

Archaeological context: The specimen is associated with an Acheulean stone tool assemblage.

Species diagnosis: The species is diagnosed by a unique combination of cranial traits. The Bodo specimen has already been described as showing a mix of H. erectus-like and H. sapiens-like features. The species is similar to H. erectus in having: a robustly built midface; total facial prognathism128; projecting tori and a flattened low frontal squama; sagittal keeling; a low vault profile; a prominent parietal angular torus; thick vault bones; no foramen lacerum is observable—it is presented as a narrow crevice.20, 128 These traits can be linked to the retention of the general cranial structure from H. erectus. Traits similar to other Middle Pleistocene and later hominin taxa include: increased cranial capacity and associated traits (broader frontal and mid-vault, reduced postorbital constriction, signs of parietal bossing, high and arched temporal squama), a vertical (rather than forward sloping) nasal margin, and the position of the incisive canal in front of the hard palate. Excessively thick and projecting, but segmented brow ridges, with the incipient division of the brow at mid-orbit and attenuated laterally may be considered a distinctive trait of the species.

A simplified model for the evolution of the genus Homo over the last 2 million years, with Homo bodoensis sp. nov. positioned as the ancestral (mostly African) form of Homo sapiens

Mirjana Roksandic, Predrag Radović, Xiu-Jie Wu and Christopher J. Bae. 2021. Resolving the “Muddle in the Middle”: The Case for Homo bodoensis sp. nov. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews. DOI: 10.1002/evan.21929

 newscientist.com/article/2295406-new-human-species-has-been-named-homo-bodoensis-but-it-may-not-stick

[PaleoMammalogy • 2020] Environmental Drivers of Megafauna and Hominin Extinction in Southeast Asia

 

A savannah in Middle Pleistocene Southeast Asia. 

 foreground: stegodon, hyenas, and Asian rhinos (Rhinoceros).

 background: water buffalo can be seen at the edge of a riparian forest

in Louys & Roberts, 2020. 

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2810-y

 Illustration: Peter Schouten  

Abstract

Southeast Asia has emerged as an important region for understanding hominin and mammalian migrations and extinctions. High-profile discoveries have shown that Southeast Asia has been home to at least five members of the genus Homo. Considerable turnover in Pleistocene megafauna has previously been linked with these hominins or with climate change, although the region is often left out of discussions of megafauna extinctions. In the traditional hominin evolutionary core of Africa, attempts to establish the environmental context of hominin evolution and its association with faunal changes have long been informed by stable isotope methodologies. However, such studies have largely been neglected in Southeast Asia. Here we present a large-scale dataset of stable isotope data for Southeast Asian mammals that spans the Quaternary period. Our results demonstrate that the forests of the Early Pleistocene had given way to savannahs by the Middle Pleistocene, which led to the spread of grazers and extinction of browsers—although geochronological limitations mean that not all samples can be resolved to glacial or interglacial periods. Savannahs retreated by the Late Pleistocene and had completely disappeared by the Holocene epoch, when they were replaced by highly stratified closed-canopy rainforest. This resulted in the ascendency of rainforest-adapted species as well as Homo sapiens—which has a unique adaptive plasticity among hominins—at the expense of savannah and woodland specialists, including Homo erectus. At present, megafauna are restricted to rainforests and are severely threatened by anthropogenic deforestation.

 

Biogeography, Biological anthropology, Ecosystem ecology, Environmental impact, Palaeontology

Artist’s reconstruction of a savannah in Middle Pleistocene Southeast Asia. In the foreground Homo erectus, stegodon, hyenas, and Asian rhinos are depicted. Water buffalo can be seen at the edge of a riparian forest in the background. 

  Illustration: Peter Schouten 

Julien Louys and Patrick Roberts. 2020. Environmental drivers of megafauna and hominin extinction in Southeast Asia. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2810-y

Past Tropical Forest Changes Drove Megafauna and Hominin Extinctions

New biochemical research shows significant turnovers in Southeast Asian environments and animals during the Pleistocene

shh.mpg.de/1873324/past-tropical-forest-changes-drove-megafauna-and-hominin-extinctions

phys.org/news/2020-10-tropical-forest-drove-megafauna-hominin.html

    

[PaleoAnthropology • 2016] Pleistocene Footprints Show Intensive Use of Lake Margin Habitats by Homo erectus groups

Clockwise from upper right: White rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum), pelican (Pelecanus), hominin (putative Homo erectus), large wading bird (Ciconiidae or Gruidae), elephant (Elephas or Loxodonta) and medium sized bovid.

Photos: N. Roach/K. Hatala. Silhouettes: phylopic.org,
elephant by T. Michael Keesey (creativecommons.org).

Abstract

Reconstructing hominin paleoecology is critical for understanding our ancestors’ diets, social organizations and interactions with other animals. Most paleoecological models lack fine-scale resolution due to fossil hominin scarcity and the time-averaged accumulation of faunal assemblages. Here we present data from 481 fossil tracks from northwestern Kenya, including 97 hominin footprints attributed to Homo erectus. These tracks are found in multiple sedimentary layers spanning approximately 20 thousand years. Taphonomic experiments show that each of these trackways represents minutes to no more than a few days in the lives of the individuals moving across these paleolandscapes. The geology and associated vertebrate fauna place these tracks in a deltaic setting, near a lakeshore bordered by open grasslands. Hominin footprints are disproportionately abundant in this lake margin environment, relative to hominin skeletal fossil frequency in the same deposits. Accounting for preservation bias, this abundance of hominin footprints indicates repeated use of lakeshore habitats by Homo erectus. Clusters of very large prints moving in the same direction further suggest these hominins traversed this lakeshore in multi-male groups. Such reliance on near water environments, and possibly aquatic-linked foods, may have influenced hominin foraging behavior and migratory routes across and out of Africa.

Geology and Depositional Context

We report here on 481 identifiable fossil tracks (Fig. 1), including 97 hominin footprints, found near the town of Ileret in northwestern Kenya. A small assemblage of hominin and other animal tracks was initially discovered in 200621. The excavation of this site has continued over the past 9 years, and new excavations were conducted in 2013–2014 at three additional targeted localities where hominin prints were also found. Twenty randomly selected test squares also were excavated, totaling 114 m2 of uncovered track surface. These surfaces are located within the Okote Member of the Koobi Fora Formation and are tightly time bracketed between fluvially reworked volcanic tuffs. The Northern Ileret Tuff caps the sequence and is radiometrically dated to 1.51–1.52 Ma, while the underlying Lower Ileret Tuff is dated to 1.53 Ma22,23. Between these tuffs is ~8.5 m of massive and laminated silts interspersed with fine grained, stratified and cross-stratified sands (Fig. 2). This complex is divided near the middle by the Ileret Tuff, dated to 1.52 Ma21.

Neil T. Roach, Kevin G. Hatala, Kelly R. Ostrofsky, Brian Villmoare, Jonathan S. Reeves, Andrew Du, David R. Braun, John W. K. Harris, Anna K. Behrensmeyer and Brian G. Richmond. 2016. Pleistocene Footprints Show Intensive Use of Lake Margin Habitats by Homo erectus groups. Scientific Reports. 6, Article number: 26374. DOI: 10.1038/srep26374

[PaleoAnthropology • 2015] Australopithecus deyiremeda • New Species from Ethiopia further expands Middle Pliocene Hominin Diversity

Australopithecus deyiremeda Haile-Selassie, Gibert, Melillo, Ryan, Alene, Deino, Levin, Scott & Saylor, 2015

doi: 10.1038/nature14448

Middle Pliocene hominin species diversity has been a subject of debate over the past two decades, particularly after the naming of Australopithecus bahrelghazali and Kenyanthropus platyops in addition to the well-known species Australopithecus afarensis. Further analyses continue to support the proposal that several hominin species co-existed during this time period. Here we recognize a new hominin species (Australopithecus deyiremeda sp. nov.) from 3.3–3.5-million-year-old deposits in the Woranso–Mille study area, central Afar, Ethiopia. The new species from Woranso–Mille shows that there were at least two contemporaneous hominin species living in the Afar region of Ethiopia between 3.3 and 3.5 million years ago, and further confirms early hominin taxonomic diversity in eastern Africa during the Middle Pliocene epoch. The morphology of Au. deyiremeda also reinforces concerns related to dentognathic (that is, jaws and teeth) homoplasy in Plio–Pleistocene hominins, and shows that some dentognathic features traditionally associated with Paranthropus and Homo appeared in the fossil record earlier than previously thought.

Figure 1: Australopithecus deyiremeda Holotype BRT-VP-3/1. a, Occlusal view. b, Lateral view. c, Superior view. d, Medial view. e, Anterior view.
Paratype BRT-VP-3/14. f, Occlusal view. g, Right lateral view. h, Basal view.
Paratype WYT-VP-2/10. i, Occlusal view. j, Right lateral view. k, Basal view.
Referred specimen BRT-VP-3/37. l, Occlusal view. m, Buccal view. n, Lingual view. o, Distal view. p, Mesial view.

doi: 10.1038/nature14448

Order Primates Linnaeus, 1758 

Suborder Anthropoidea Mivart, 1864 

Superfamily Hominoidea Gray, 1825 

Genus Australopithecus Dart, 1925 

Australopithecus deyiremeda sp. nov.

Etymology: From the local Afar language terms deyi, meaning close, and remeda, meaning relative; thus referring to the species being a close relative of all later hominins.

Holotype: BRT-VP-3/1 (Fig. 1a–e), a left maxilla with upper second incisor–upper second molar (I2–M2) found by M. Barao on 4 March 2011. The originals of the holotype and paratypes are housed at the Paleoanthropology Laboratory of the National Museum of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa.

Yohannes Haile-Selassie, Luis Gibert, Stephanie M. Melillo, Timothy M. Ryan, Mulugeta Alene, Alan Deino, Naomi E. Levin, Gary Scott and Beverly Z. Saylor. 2015. New Species from Ethiopia further expands Middle Pliocene Hominin Diversity.
Nature. 521, 483-488; doi: 10.1038/nature14448

New human ancestor discovered near fossil of ‘Lucy’

Australopithecus deyiremeda lived about 3.4 million years ago in northern Ethiopia, around the same time and place as Australopithecus afarensis. .... Nature. doi: 10.1038/nature.2015.17644

Palaeoanthropology: The middle Pliocene gets crowded http://rdcu.be/cXgl

Australopithecus deyiremeda: New Human Ancestor In Ethiopia http://www.science20.com/news_articles/australopithecus_deyiremeda_new_human_ancestor_in_ethiopia-155829 via @science2_0

New species of human ancestor lived alongside 'Lucy' 3.4m years ago
http://dailym.ai/1HLWIpa via @MailOnline