![]() ![]() If so, they are not representative of the species. Berger’s latest work hints that the young male’s vertebrae may show signs of disease. sediba vertebrae that might explain the differences Been found. The Missing Link Found office is finally open, so sign your middle or high-schooler up at the office located at 219-A East 6th Street, Waynesboro, GA. sediba had an Australopithecus-like spine and Homo-like jaw, while another had a Homo-like spine and Australopithecus-like jaw. With anatomy in flux, it is possible that one A. “A central tenet of evolutionary theory is that variation within taxa becomes variation between taxa as species diverge,” he says. sediba really was a transitional species between Australopithecus and Homo. ![]() Regardless, Berger says that Been and Rak’s observations make sense if A. Fossils of other australopithecine children had tall vertebrae, she says. sediba had grown up, his vertebrae may have become more Australopithecus-like.īeen isn’t convinced. erectus, but he says vertebrae grow taller throughout childhood. For one thing, he says the positioning of the adult skeleton’s bones in the ground makes it likely they came from a single individual.īerger admits that the vertebrae of the young A. sediba‘s discoverer, Lee Berger of the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, doesn’t agree. They presented their findings at a meeting of the Paleoanthropology Society in Calgary, Canada, this week. The pair conclude that there are not two but four individuals in the remains from Malapa: an adult and a juvenile of both Homo and Australopithecus. But here the species are switched: a notch in the young male jaw looks like Australopithecus, while the same notch in the adult female jaw looks human. “He sees the same in the : an australopithecine and an early Homo,” says Been. When Been shared her findings with Yoel Rak, also at Tel Aviv University, she found an ally. She concludes that the spines belong to two different species. In contrast, the adult female’s vertebrae are taller, says Been, a classic Australopithecus feature. ![]()
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