The Evolution of the Glenoid Region in the Hominidae: Implications for Hominid Phylogenetics
Ostlund, James Gary
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/85249
Description
Title
The Evolution of the Glenoid Region in the Hominidae: Implications for Hominid Phylogenetics
Author(s)
Ostlund, James Gary
Issue Date
2002
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Lewis, R. Barry
Department of Study
Anthropology
Discipline
Anthropology
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Anthropology, Physical
Language
eng
Abstract
Australopithecines exhibit more interspecific variation in glenoid region morphology than Homo. Chimpanzees and the earliest hominid taxa exhibit similar glenoid region morphologies and are readily distinguishable from later australopithecines and Homo. The Ardipithecus and Australopithecus anamensis fossils can easily be incorporated in most existing phylogenetic scenarios by extending the age of the Hominidae to 4.5 million years. Morphological similarities suggest that A. africanus is the direct ancestor of A. robustus , but not A. boisei. Instead, A. aethiopicus is a more likely ancestor of A. boisei. While the comparative data suggests a specific phylogenetic scenario for the australopithecines, identifying the evolutionary origin of Homo and assessing phylogenetic relationships among Homo is more difficult. At present the evolutionary origin of Homo remains problematic. Moreover, because individual species of Homo exhibit a wide range of morphological variation, with considerable overlap between species, it is not possible to reject or accept the multiple species hypotheses for either H. habilis or H. erectus. In fact, the recent trend of dividing traditionally recognized species of Homo into multiple species probably owes more to cladistic methodology and the phylogenetic species concept than to real biological differences in these fossil populations.
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