2015
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1511220112
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Fossil hominin shoulders support an African ape-like last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees

Abstract: Reconstructing the behavioral shifts that drove hominin evolution requires knowledge of the timing, magnitude, and direction of anatomical changes over the past ∼6-7 million years. These reconstructions depend on assumptions regarding the morphotype of the Homo-Pan last common ancestor (LCA). However, there is little consensus for the LCA, with proposed models ranging from African ape to orangutan or generalized Miocene ape-like. The ancestral state of the shoulder is of particular interest because it is funct… Show more

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Cited by 64 publications
(49 citation statements)
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“…All available evidence on the feet of A. afarensis suggests that terrestriality was adaptively significant due to the presence of many derived traits related to midtarsal stability, propulsion, and heel-strike (Latimer et al, 1987;Latimer andLovejoy, 1989, 1990;DeSilva, 2009DeSilva, , 2010Ward et al, 2011;Crompton et al, 2012;Prang, 2015a,b), which other hominins, such as Australopithecus sediba and Australopithecus africanus, lack (Zipfel et al, 2011;Prang, 2015aPrang, ,b, 2016. The presence of a longitudinal arch does not preclude a total locomotor repertoire that includes some degree of arboreality in A. afarensis (shown most recently by data on developmental changes in scapular morphology in juvenile apes related to climbing; Green and Alemseged, 2012;Young et al, 2015), African ape-like phalangeal morphology (Stern and Susman, 1983), and advanced climbing capabilities in some modern humans (Venkataraman et al, 2012). Although data on foot morphology (Latimer et al, 1987;Latimer and Lovejoy, 1989;DeSilva, 2009;Ward et al, 2011;Zipfel et al, 2011;Crompton et al, 2012;Prang, 2015aPrang, ,b, 2016, limb size proportions (Green et al, 2007), and hindlimb joint size (McHenry and Berger, 1998;Dobson, 2005) suggest that A. afarensis was the most terrestrial Australopithecus currently known, the potential for a locomotor repertoire including some amount of arboreality is not easily discounted.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…All available evidence on the feet of A. afarensis suggests that terrestriality was adaptively significant due to the presence of many derived traits related to midtarsal stability, propulsion, and heel-strike (Latimer et al, 1987;Latimer andLovejoy, 1989, 1990;DeSilva, 2009DeSilva, , 2010Ward et al, 2011;Crompton et al, 2012;Prang, 2015a,b), which other hominins, such as Australopithecus sediba and Australopithecus africanus, lack (Zipfel et al, 2011;Prang, 2015aPrang, ,b, 2016. The presence of a longitudinal arch does not preclude a total locomotor repertoire that includes some degree of arboreality in A. afarensis (shown most recently by data on developmental changes in scapular morphology in juvenile apes related to climbing; Green and Alemseged, 2012;Young et al, 2015), African ape-like phalangeal morphology (Stern and Susman, 1983), and advanced climbing capabilities in some modern humans (Venkataraman et al, 2012). Although data on foot morphology (Latimer et al, 1987;Latimer and Lovejoy, 1989;DeSilva, 2009;Ward et al, 2011;Zipfel et al, 2011;Crompton et al, 2012;Prang, 2015aPrang, ,b, 2016, limb size proportions (Green et al, 2007), and hindlimb joint size (McHenry and Berger, 1998;Dobson, 2005) suggest that A. afarensis was the most terrestrial Australopithecus currently known, the potential for a locomotor repertoire including some amount of arboreality is not easily discounted.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…In PNAS, Young et al (1) conclude that the scapula of the last common ancestor (LCA) of chimpanzees and humans was African apelike, supporting what they call the "African ape" model. This model was favored over the "ape convergence" model, in which the ancestral condition was more primitive and some morphological similarities shared among modern apes would reflect convergent evolution.…”
mentioning
confidence: 96%
“…In their phylogenetic analyses, Young et al (1) conclude that the African ape model is more parsimonious than the ape convergence model. However, the difference between the two models is small (tree lengths: 0.085 and 0.100).…”
mentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees is considered to have been anatomically, physiologically and behaviorally more similar to modern chimpanzees than to modern humans (3335). Thus the human line underwent greater changes and adaptations, as well as passage through narrower population bottlenecks (36), than the chimpanzee line.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%