Communications Biology (Mar 2021)
Sacrum morphology supports taxonomic heterogeneity of “Australopithecus africanus” at Sterkfontein Member 4
Abstract
Fornai et al. present a geometric morphometric study of the sacrum in two alleged Australopithecus africanus specimens from Sterkfontein Member 4, South Africa. By comparing the two fossil hominins to a diverse sample of modern humans and great apes, the authors conclude that the observed morphological differences are unlikely to occur within a single species, supporting earlier claims of taxonomic heterogeneity within the Australopithecus africanus hypodigm.