Editing Australopithecus (section)

{{short description|Genus of hominin ancestral to modern humans}}
{{for|the collective tribe|Australopithecine}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| display_parents = 3
| taxon = Australopithecus
| authority = [[Raymond Dart|R.A. Dart]], 1925
| fossil_range = {{fossilrange|4.5|1.5|[[Zanclean]] – [[Gelasian]], 4.5–1.9/1.2 mya}}
| image = Mrs Ples Face.jpg
| image_caption = [[Mrs. Ples]], an ''[[Australopithecus africanus]]'' specimen
| type_species = {{extinct}}''[[Australopithecus africanus]]''
| type_species_authority = Dart, 1925
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision = *†''[[Australopithecus afarensis|A. afarensis]]''
*†''[[Australopithecus anamensis|A. anamensis]]''
*†''[[Australopithecus africanus|A. africanus]]''
*†''[[Australopithecus bahrelghazali|A. bahrelghazali]]'' (= ''A. afarensis''?)
*†''[[Australopithecus deyiremeda|A. deyiremeda]]''
*†''[[Australopithecus garhi|A. garhi]]''
*†''[[Australopithecus prometheus|A. prometheus]]'' (= ''A. africanus''?)
*†''[[Australopithecus sediba|A. sediba]]''
Classically excluded but [[cladistics|cladistically]] included:
*†''[[Paranthropus]]''
*†''[[Kenyanthropus]]''
*''[[Homo]]''
}}

'''''Australopithecus''''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|ɒ|s|t|r|ə|l|ə|ˈ|p|ɪ|θ|ᵻ|k|ə|s|,_|-|l|oʊ|-}}, {{respell|OS|trə|lə|PITH|i|kəs|,_|-|loh|-}};{{refn|{{Citation |last=Jones |first=Daniel |author-link=Daniel Jones (phonetician) |title=English Pronouncing Dictionary |editor=Peter Roach |editor2=James Hartmann |editor3=Jane Setter |place=Cambridge |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |orig-year=1917 |year=2003 |isbn=978-3-12-539683-8 }}}} or ({{IPAc-en|ɒ|s|ˌ|t|r|ə|l|ə|p|ɪ|ˈ|θ|iː|k|ə|s|}}, {{respell|os|TRA|lə|pi|THEE|kəs|}}<ref>Pronunciation with stressed penultimate syllable and long-E is used by anthropologists such as Lee Berger (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm_tWwZSRzU) and Raymond Dart (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9A2tpvXkWQ&t=2297s) (time 38:20) and conforms to ALA-LC Romanization tables (https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/greek.pdf) and classical scholarship (Kelly, H.A., 1986. Pronouncing Latin words in English. ''The Classical World'', 80(1), pp.33-37).</ref> {{ety|la|australis|southern|grc|''πίθηκος'' (pithekos)|ape}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://research.amnh.org/paleontology/perissodactyl/concepts/glossary|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211120123130/https://research.amnh.org/paleontology/perissodactyl/concepts/glossary|archive-date=20 November 2021|title=Glossary. American Museum of Natural History}}</ref>) is a [[genus]] of early [[hominin]]s that existed in Africa during the [[Pliocene]] and [[Early Pleistocene]]. The genera ''[[Homo]]'' (which includes modern [[humans]]), ''[[Paranthropus]]'', and ''[[Kenyanthropus]]'' evolved from some ''Australopithecus'' species. ''Australopithecus'' is a member of the subtribe [[Australopithecina]],{{Sfn|Wood|Richmond|2000|p=}}{{Sfn|Briggs|Crowther|2008|p=124}} which sometimes also includes ''[[Ardipithecus]]'',{{Sfn|Wood|2010|p=}} though the term "australopithecine" is sometimes used to refer only to members of ''Australopithecus''. Species include ''[[Australopithecus garhi|A. garhi]]'', ''[[Australopithecus africanus|A. africanus]]'', ''[[Australopithecus sediba|A. sediba]]'', ''[[Australopithecus afarensis|A. afarensis]]'', ''[[Australopithecus anamensis|A. anamensis]]'', ''[[Australopithecus bahrelghazali|A. bahrelghazali]]'', and ''[[Australopithecus deyiremeda|A. deyiremeda]]''. Debate exists as to whether some ''Australopithecus'' species should be reclassified into new genera, or if ''Paranthropus'' and ''Kenyanthropus'' are synonymous with ''Australopithecus'', in part because of the taxonomic inconsistency.<ref name="Haile-Selassie2010c">{{cite journal |author=Haile-Selassie, Y |date=27 October 2010 |title=Phylogeny of early Australopithecus: new fossil evidence from the Woranso-Mille (central Afar, Ethiopia)|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=365 |issue=1556 |pages=3323–3331 |pmid=20855306 |pmc=2981958 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2010.0064}}</ref><ref name=":1" />

Furthermore, because e.g. ''A. africanus'' is more closely related to humans, or their ancestors at the time, than e.g. ''A. anamensis'' and many more ''Australopithecus'' branches, ''Australopithecus'' cannot be consolidated into a coherent grouping without also including the genus ''Homo'' and other genera.

The earliest known member of the genus, ''A. anamensis'', existed in eastern Africa around 4.2 million years ago. ''Australopithecus'' fossils become more widely dispersed throughout eastern and southern Africa (the Chadian ''A. bahrelghazali'' indicates that the genus was much more widespread than the fossil record suggests), before eventually becoming extinct 1.9 million years ago (or 1.2 to 0.6 million years ago if ''Paranthropus'' is included). While none of the groups normally directly assigned to this group survived, ''Australopithecus'' gave rise to living descendants, as the genus ''Homo'' emerged from an ''Australopithecus'' species<ref name="Haile-Selassie2010c" /><ref name=" Asfaw99">{{cite journal | last1 = Asfaw | first1 = B | last2 = White | first2 = T | last3 = Lovejoy | first3 = O | last4 = Latimer | first4 = B | last5 = Simpson | first5 = S | last6 = Suwa | first6 = G | title = Australopithecus garhi: a new species of early hominid from Ethiopia | journal =[[Science (journal)|Science]] | volume = 284 | issue = 5414 | pages = 629–35 | year = 1999 | pmid = 10213683 | doi = 10.1126/science.284.5414.629 | bibcode = 1999Sci...284..629A}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/origins/australopithecus_africanus.php|title=Exploring the fossil record: Australopithecus africanus|website=[[Bradshaw Foundation]]|language=en|access-date=2019-11-11}}</ref><ref name="Berger1">{{Cite journal |last1=Berger |first1=L. R. |last2=de Ruiter |first2=D. J. |last3=Churchill |first3=S. E. |last4=Schmid |first4=P. |last5=Carlson |first5=K. J. |last6=Dirks |first6=P. H. G. M. |last7=Kibii |first7=J. M. |year=2010 |title=''Australopithecus sediba'': a new species of ''Homo''-like australopith from South Africa |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=328 |issue=5975 |pages=195–204 |doi=10.1126/science.1184944 |pmid=20378811|citeseerx=10.1.1.729.7802 |bibcode=2010Sci...328..195B |s2cid=14209370 }}</ref><ref name="Toth2005">Toth, Nicholas and Schick, Kathy (2005). "African Origins" in ''The Human Past: World Prehistory and the Development of Human Societies'' (Editor: Chris Scarre). London: Thames and Hudson. Page 60. {{ISBN|0-500-28531-4}}</ref>{{overcite|date=April 2024}} at some time between 3 and 2 million years ago.<ref name="Kimbel2016">{{cite journal |author1=Kimbel, W.H. |author2=Villmoare, B. |date=5 July 2016 |title=From Australopithecus to Homo: the transition that wasn't|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences |volume=371 |issue=1698|pages=20150248 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2015.0248 |pmid=27298460 |pmc=4920303 }}</ref>

''Australopithecus'' possessed two of the three duplicated genes derived from ''[[SRGAP2]]'' roughly 3.4 and 2.4 million years ago (''[[SRGAP2B]]'' and ''[[SRGAP2C]]''), the second of which contributed to the increase in number and migration of [[neurons]] in the human brain.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21777-the-humanity-switch-how-one-gene-made-us-brainier/|title=The humanity switch: How one gene made us brainier|last=Reardon|first=Sara|date=2012-05-03|website=New Scientist|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-06}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Sporny|first1=Michael|last2=Guez-Haddad|first2=Julia|last3=Kreusch|first3=Annett|last4=Shakartzi|first4=Sivan|last5=Neznansky|first5=Avi|last6=Cross|first6=Alice|last7=Isupov|first7=Michail N.|last8=Qualmann|first8=Britta|last9=Kessels|first9=Michael M.|last10=Opatowsky|first10=Yarden|date=June 2017|title=Structural History of Human SRGAP2 Proteins|journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution|volume=34|issue=6|pages=1463–1478|doi=10.1093/molbev/msx094|issn=0737-4038|pmc=5435084|pmid=28333212}}</ref> Significant changes to the hand first appear in the fossil record of later ''A. afarensis'' about 3 million years ago (fingers shortened relative to thumb and changes to the joints between the [[index finger]] and the [[Trapezium (bone)|trapezium]] and [[capitate]]).<ref name="Tocheri2008">{{Cite journal |author1=Tocheri, Matthew W. |author2=Orr, Caley M. |author3=Jocofsky, Marc C. |author4=Marzke, Mary W. |author4-link=Mary Marzke|date=April 2008 |title=The evolutionary history of the hominin hand since the last common ancestor of Pan and Homo|journal=[[Journal of Anatomy]]|volume=212 |issue=4 |pages=544–562 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-7580.2008.00865.x |pmid=18380869|pmc=2409097 }}</ref>