Morphological affinities of Homo naledi with other Plio-Pleistocene hominins: a phenetic approach

Autor(es)

Neves, Walter A. ^[1] ; Bernardo, Danilo V. ^[2] ; Pantaleoni, Ivan ^[1]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Genet & Biol Evolut, Lab Estudos Evolut & Ecol Humanos, Inst Biociencias, Rua Matao 277, Sala 218, Cidade Univ, BR-05508090 Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Fed Rio Grande, Lab Estudos Antropol Biol Bioarqueol & Evolucao H, Inst Ciencias Humanas & Informacao, Area Arqueol & Antropol, Av Italia, Km 8, BR-96203000 Rio Grande, RS - Brazil

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências; v. 89, n. 3, 3, p. 2199-2207, 2017.
• Citações Web of Science: 2

Resumo

Recent fossil material found in Dinaledi Chamber, South Africa, was initially described as a new species of genus Homo, namely Homo naledi. The original study of this new material has pointed to a close proximity with Homo erectus. More recent investigations have, to some extent, confirmed this assignment. Here we present a phenetic analysis based on dentocranial metric variables through Principal Components Analysis and Cluster Analysis based on these fossils and other Plio-Pleistocene hominins. Our results concur that the Dinaledi fossil hominins pertain to genus Homo. However, in our case, their nearest neighbors are Homo habilis and Australopithecus sediba. We suggest that Homo naledi is in fact a South African version of Homo habilis, and not a new species. This can also be applied to Australopithecus sediba. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 13/22631-2 - Evolução biocultural hominínia do Vale do rio Zarqa, Jordânia: uma abordagem paleoantropológica
• Beneficiário: Walter Alves Neves
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Regular