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Fore‐ and hindlimb proportions in Plio‐Pleistocene hominids
Author(s) -
McHenry Henry M.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.1330490104
Subject(s) - australopithecus , plio pleistocene , hindlimb , biology , hominidae , evolutionary biology , zoology , anatomy , paleontology , pleistocene , biological evolution , genetics
Associated fore‐ and hindlimb parts of five individuals are known from the hominid Plio‐Pleistocene fossil collections in Africa. Four of these have been classified as Australopithecus and show definite evidence that in comparison with humans, forelimbs were relatively large and hindlimbs were relatively small. The fourth individual, placed in the genus Homo , has human proportions. These findings do not necessarily imply locomotor differences: the forelimbs may have been relatively long in Australopithecus simply because they were as yet not completely reduced from their generalized hominoid ancestral state.