Comparative description and taxonomic affinity of 3.7-million-year-old hominin mandibles from Woranso-Mille (Ethiopia).

Fossil discoveries of early Australopithecus species from Woranso-Mille have played a significant role in improving our understanding of mid-Pliocene hominin evolution and diversity. Here, we describe two mandibles with dentitions, recovered from sediments immediately above a tuff radiometrically dated to 3.76 ± 0.

New Pliocene hominin remains from the Leado Dido'a area of Woranso-Mille, Ethiopia.

Fossiliferous deposits at Woranso-Mille span the period when Australopithecus anamensis gave rise to Australopithecus afarensis (3.8-3.6 Ma) and encompass the core of the A.

Age and context of mid-Pliocene hominin cranium from Woranso-Mille, Ethiopia.

A fossil hominin cranium was discovered in mid-Pliocene deltaic strata in the Godaya Valley of the northwestern Woranso-Mille study area in Ethiopia. Here we show that analyses of chemically correlated volcanic layers and the palaeomagnetic stratigraphy, combined with Bayesian modelling of dated tuffs, yield an age range of 3.804 ± 0.

Dentognathic remains of Australopithecus afarensis from Nefuraytu (Woranso-Mille, Ethiopia): Comparative description, geology, and paleoecological context.

Australopithecus afarensis is the best-known and most dimorphic species in the early hominin fossil record. Here, we present a comparative description of new fossil specimens of Au. afarensis from Nefuraytu, a 3.

Tephrostratigraphy of the Waki-Mille area of the Woranso-Mille paleoanthropological research project, Afar, Ethiopia.

Tephra geochemistry and (40)Ar/(39)Ar geochronology are reported for the Waki-Mille area in the northwestern part of the Woranso-Mille paleoanthropological project area in the west central Afar region of Ethiopia. Previous studies documented dentognathic fossils that are morphologically intermediate between Australopithecus anamensis and Australopithecus afarensis and some that are attributed to Australopithecus afarensis. Additional dentognathic remains from the study area were assigned to the newly identified species Australopithecus deyiremeda.

Dietary change among hominins and cercopithecids in Ethiopia during the early Pliocene.

The incorporation of C4 resources into hominin diet signifies increased dietary breadth within hominins and divergence from the dietary patterns of other great apes. Morphological evidence indicates that hominin diet became increasingly diverse by 4.2 million years ago but may not have included large proportions of C4 foods until 800 thousand years later, given the available isotopic evidence.

New species from Ethiopia further expands Middle Pliocene hominin diversity.

Middle Pliocene hominin species diversity has been a subject of debate over the past two decades, particularly after the naming of Australopithecus bahrelghazali and Kenyanthropus platyops in addition to the well-known species Australopithecus afarensis. Further analyses continue to support the proposal that several hominin species co-existed during this time period. Here we recognize a new hominin species (Australopithecus deyiremeda sp.

A new hominin foot from Ethiopia shows multiple Pliocene bipedal adaptations.

A newly discovered partial hominin foot skeleton from eastern Africa indicates the presence of more than one hominin locomotor adaptation at the beginning of the Late Pliocene epoch. Here we show that new pedal elements, dated to about 3.4 million years ago, belong to a species that does not match the contemporaneous Australopithecus afarensis in its morphology and inferred locomotor adaptations, but instead are more similar to the earlier Ardipithecus ramidus in possessing an opposable great toe.

An early Australopithecus afarensis postcranium from Woranso-Mille, Ethiopia.

Only one partial skeleton that includes both forelimb and hindlimb elements has been reported for Australopithecus afarensis. The diminutive size of this specimen (A.L.

New hominid fossils from Woranso-Mille (Central Afar, Ethiopia) and taxonomy of early Australopithecus.

The phylogenetic relationship between Australopithecus anamensis and Australopithecus afarensis has been hypothesized as ancestor-descendant. However, the weakest part of this hypothesis has been the absence of fossil samples between 3.6 and 3.