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The Long Limb Bones of the StW 573 Australopithecus Skeleton from Sterkfontein Member 2: Descriptions and Proportions

View ORCID ProfileJason L. Heaton, Travis Rayne Pickering, Kristian J. Carlson, Robin H. Crompton, Tea Jashashvili, Amelie Beaudet, Laurent Bruxelles, Kathleen Kuman, A.J. Heile, Dominic Stratford, Ronald J. Clarke
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/497636
Jason L. Heaton
aDepartment of Biology, Birmingham-Southern College, Birmingham, Alabama, 35254, U.S.A.
bEvolutionary Studies Institute, University of Witwatersrand, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa.
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  • ORCID record for Jason L. Heaton
  • For correspondence: jheaton@bsc.edu
Travis Rayne Pickering
bEvolutionary Studies Institute, University of Witwatersrand, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa.
cDepartment of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin Madison, 1180 Observatory Drive, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706, U.S.A.
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Kristian J. Carlson
bEvolutionary Studies Institute, University of Witwatersrand, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa.
dDepartment of Integrative Anatomical Sciences, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90033, U.S.A.
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Robin H. Crompton
eDepartment of Musculoskeletal Biology, Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease, University of Liverpool, The William Henry Duncan Building, 6 West Derby Street, Liverpool L7 8TX, United Kingdom.
fDepartment of Rheumatology, Aintree University NHS Trust, Liverpool L9 7AL, UK
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Tea Jashashvili
bEvolutionary Studies Institute, University of Witwatersrand, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa.
gMolecular Imaging Center, Department of Radiology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90033, U.S.A.
hDepartment of Geology and Paleontology, Georgian National Museum, Tbilisi 0105, Georgia
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Amelie Beaudet
iSchool of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of Witwatersrand, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa.
jDepartment of Anatomy, University of Pretoria, PO Box 2034, Pretoria 0001, South Africa
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Laurent Bruxelles
iSchool of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of Witwatersrand, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa.
kFrench National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Researches (INRAP), Nîmes, France
lFrench Institute of South Africa (IFAS), USR 3336 CNRS, Johannesburg 2001, South Africa
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Kathleen Kuman
iSchool of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of Witwatersrand, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa.
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A.J. Heile
cDepartment of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin Madison, 1180 Observatory Drive, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706, U.S.A.
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Dominic Stratford
iSchool of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of Witwatersrand, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa.
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Ronald J. Clarke
bEvolutionary Studies Institute, University of Witwatersrand, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa.
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Abstract

Due to its completeness, the A.L. 288-1 (“Lucy”) skeleton has long served as the archetypal bipedal Australopithecus. However, there remains considerable debate about its limb proportions. There are three competing, but not necessarily mutually exclusive, explanations for the high humerofemoral index of A.L. 288-1: (1) a retention of proportions from an Ardipithecus-like most recent common ancestor (MRCA); (2) indication of some degree of climbing ability; (3) allometry. Recent discoveries of other partial skeletons of Australopithecus, such as those of A. sediba (MH1 and MH2) and A. afarensis (KSD-VP-1/1 and DIK-1/1), have provided new opportunities to test hypotheses of early hominin body size and limb proportions. Yet, no early hominin is as complete (>90%), as is the ~3.67 Ma “Little Foot” (StW 573) specimen, from Sterkfontein Member 2. Here, we provide the first descriptions of that skeleton’s upper and lower long limb bones, as well as a comparative context of its limb proportions. As to the latter, we found that StW 573 possesses absolutely longer limb lengths than A.L. 288-1, but both skeletons show similar limb proportions. This finding seems to argue against a purely allometric explanation for A.L. 288-1’s limb proportions. In fact, our multivariate allometric analysis suggests that limb lengths of Australopithecus, as represented by StW 573 and A.L. 288-1, developed along a significantly different (p < 0.001) allometric scale than that which typifies modern humans and African apes. Our analyses also suggest, as have those of others, that hominin limb evolution occurred in two stages with: (1) a modest increase in lower limb length and a concurrent shortening of the antebrachium between Ardipithecus and Australopithecus, followed by (2) considerable lengthening of the lower limb along with a decrease of both upper limb elements occurring between Australopithecus and Homo sapiens.

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Posted December 31, 2018.
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The Long Limb Bones of the StW 573 Australopithecus Skeleton from Sterkfontein Member 2: Descriptions and Proportions
Jason L. Heaton, Travis Rayne Pickering, Kristian J. Carlson, Robin H. Crompton, Tea Jashashvili, Amelie Beaudet, Laurent Bruxelles, Kathleen Kuman, A.J. Heile, Dominic Stratford, Ronald J. Clarke
bioRxiv 497636; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/497636
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The Long Limb Bones of the StW 573 Australopithecus Skeleton from Sterkfontein Member 2: Descriptions and Proportions
Jason L. Heaton, Travis Rayne Pickering, Kristian J. Carlson, Robin H. Crompton, Tea Jashashvili, Amelie Beaudet, Laurent Bruxelles, Kathleen Kuman, A.J. Heile, Dominic Stratford, Ronald J. Clarke
bioRxiv 497636; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/497636

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