The Great Divides: Ardipithecus ramidus Reveals the Postcrania of Our Last Common Ancestors with African Apes

@article{Lovejoy2009TheGD,
  title={The Great Divides: Ardipithecus ramidus Reveals the Postcrania of Our Last Common Ancestors with African Apes},
  author={C. Owen Lovejoy and Gen Suwa and Scott W Simpson and Jay H Matternes and Tim D. White},
  journal={Science},
  year={2009},
  volume={326},
  pages={106 - 73}
}
Genomic comparisons have established the chimpanzee and bonobo as our closest living relatives. However, the intricacies of gene regulation and expression caution against the use of these extant apes in deducing the anatomical structure of the last common ancestor that we shared with them. Evidence for this structure must therefore be sought from the fossil record. Until now, that record has provided few relevant data because available fossils were too recent or too incomplete. Evidence from… Expand
View on AAAS
img2.tapuz.co.il
255 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
27
Background Citations
70
Methods Citations
8
Results Citations
10

255 Citations

Citation Type

Citation Type

Scapular shape of extant hominoids and the African ape/modern human last common ancestor.
TLDR
It is argued that it is more parsimonious to reconstruct the African ape/Homo LCA scapula as being Gorilla-like, especially in light of similar characterizations of certain fossil hominin scapulae. Expand
Reexamining Human Origins in Light of Ardipithecus ramidus
TLDR
A proposed adaptive suite for the emergence of Ardipithecus from the last common ancestor that the authors shared with chimpanzees accounts for these principal ape/human differences, as well as the marked demographic success and cognitive efflorescence of later Plio-Pleistocene hominids. Expand
The African ape-like foot of Ardipithecus ramidus and its implications for the origin of bipedalism
The ancestral condition from which humans evolved is critical for understanding the adaptive origin of bipedal locomotion. The 4.4 million-year-old hominin partial skeleton attributed to Ardipithecus… Expand
Giant pandas (Carnivora: Ailuropoda melanoleuca) and living hominoids converge on lumbar vertebral adaptations to orthograde trunk posture.
TLDR
The comparative evidence lends support to a potential evolutionary scenario in which the acquisition of hominoid-like lumbar vertebral morphologies may have evolved for generalized orthograde behaviors and could have been exapted for suspensory behavior in crown hominoids and for other locomotor specializations in extant lineages. Expand
Ardipithecus ramidus and the Paleobiology of Early Hominids
TLDR
Ardipithecus ramidus indicates that despite the genetic similarities of living humans and chimpanzees, the ancestor the authors last shared probably differed substantially from any extant African ape. Expand
Ardipithecus ramidus and the evolution of the human cranial base
TLDR
Investigation of the basicranial morphology of Ardipithecus ramidus shows that it shares with Australopithecus and Homo a relatively short, broad central cranial base and related modifications of the tympanic, petrous, and basioccipital elements, which support the proposed relationship of Ar. Expand
Lower Ilium Evolution in Apes and Hominins
TLDR
The maximum likelihood ancestral state reconstructions support inferences that chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes in particular) and orangutans evolved their elongate lower ilia independently, and find that the predicted lower ilium height of the Pan‐Homo LCA is shorter than all great apes except gorillas. Expand
Great apes and humans evolved from a long-backed ancestor.
TLDR
Differences in lumbar stiffening among humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans and among African apes suggest that human bipedalism evolved from a more generalized long-backed ancestor. Expand
A partial hominoid innominate from the Miocene of Pakistan: Description and preliminary analyses
TLDR
A partial innominate, YGSP 41216, from a 12.3 Ma locality in the Siwalik Group of the Potwar Plateau in Pakistan, assigned to the Middle Miocene ape species Sivapithecus indicus is described and the implications of its morphology for reconstructing positional behavior of this ape are investigated. Expand
Fossil hominin shoulders support an African ape-like last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees
TLDR
It is proposed that the shoulder evolved gradually along a single morphocline, achieving modern human-like configuration and function within the genus Homo, consistent with a slow, progressive loss of arboreality and increased tool use throughout human evolution. Expand
...
1
2
3
4
5
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 69 REFERENCES
Ardipithecus ramidus and the Paleobiology of Early Hominids
TLDR
Ardipithecus ramidus indicates that despite the genetic similarities of living humans and chimpanzees, the ancestor the authors last shared probably differed substantially from any extant African ape. Expand
Pierolapithecus catalaunicus, a New Middle Miocene Great Ape from Spain
We describe a partial skeleton with facial cranium of Pierolapithecus catalaunicus gen. et sp. nov., a new Middle Miocene (12.5 to 13 million years ago) ape from Barranc de Can Vila 1 (Barcelona,… Expand
A juvenile early hominin skeleton from Dikika, Ethiopia
TLDR
The foot and other evidence from the lower limb provide clear evidence for bipedal locomotion, but the gorilla-like scapula and long and curved manual phalanges raise new questions about the importance of arboreal behaviour in the A. afarensis locomotor repertoire. Expand
Lucy's limbs: skeletal allometry and locomotion in Australopithecus afarensis
TLDR
The data indicate that A. afarensis had already attained forelimb proportions similar to those of modern humans but possessed hindlimbs that were relatively much shorter; hence the ‘intermediate’ humerofemoral index of AL 288-1 compared with Homo sapiens and great apes. Expand
Careful Climbing in the Miocene: The Forelimbs of Ardipithecus ramidus and Humans Are Primitive
The Ardipithecus ramidus hand and wrist exhibit none of the derived mechanisms that restrict motion in extant great apes and are reminiscent of those of Miocene apes, such as Proconsul. The capitate… Expand
Orang-like manual adaptations in the fossil hominoid Hispanopithecus laietanus: first steps towards great ape suspensory behaviours
TLDR
The retention of powerful grasping and palmigrady suggests that the last common ancestor of hominids might have been more primitive than what can be inferred on the basis of extant taxa, suggesting that pronograde behaviours are compatible with an orthograde bodyplan suitable for climbing and suspension. Expand
The Ardipithecus ramidus Skull and Its Implications for Hominid Origins
TLDR
The highly fragmented and distorted skull of the adult skeleton ARA-VP-6/500 includes most of the dentition and preserves substantial parts of the face, vault, and base, showing that the Mio-Pliocene hominid cranium differed substantially from those of both extant apes and Australopithecus. Expand
Partial skeleton of Proconsul nyanzae from Mfangano Island, Kenya.
TLDR
In most aspects of its anatomy, KNM-MW 13142 closely resembles nonhominoid anthropoids, and many aspects of the Proconsul nyanzae locomotor skeleton may represent the primitive catarrhine condition. Expand
Newly revealed information on the Sterkfontein Member 2 Australopithecus skeleton : news & views
TLDR
The Sterkfontein skeleton argues against recent shared ancestry, and reveals lIgAustralopithecusl/Ig as bipedal on the ground and a branch-climber with subequal limb-lengths and long, powerful, opposable thumbs. Expand
Combining Prehension and Propulsion: The Foot of Ardipithecus ramidus
TLDR
The last common ancestor of hominids and chimpanzees was therefore a careful climber that retained adaptations to above-branch plantigrady and would thus have been unique among known primates. Expand
...
1
2
3
4
5
...