Communications Biology (Mar 2021)

Sacrum morphology supports taxonomic heterogeneity of “Australopithecus africanus” at Sterkfontein Member 4

  • Cinzia Fornai,
  • Viktoria A. Krenn,
  • Philipp Mitteroecker,
  • Nicole M. Webb,
  • Martin Haeusler

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-01850-7
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 4, no. 1
pp. 1 – 7

Abstract

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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.