Editing Australopithecus afarensis (section)

===Classification===
''A. afarensis'' is now a widely accepted species, and it is now generally thought that ''Homo'' and ''Paranthropus'' are [[sister taxa]] deriving from ''Australopithecus'', but the classification of ''Australopithecus'' species is in disarray. ''Australopithecus'' is considered a [[evolutionary grade|grade taxon]] whose members are united by their similar physiology rather than close relations with each other over other hominin genera. It is unclear how any ''Australopithecus'' species relate to each other,<ref name="McNulty2016">{{cite journal|first=K. P.|last=McNulty|year=2016|title=Hominin Taxonomy and Phylogeny: What's In A Name?|journal=Nature Education Knowledge|volume=7|issue=1|page=2|url=https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/hominin-taxonomy-and-phylogeny-what-s-in-142102877/}}</ref> but it is generally thought that a population of ''[[A. anamensis]]'' evolved into ''A. afarensis''.<ref name="Haile2019">{{cite journal|last1=Haile-Selassie|first1=Y.|author1-link=Yohannes Haile-Selassie|last2=M. Melillo|first2=S.|last3=Vazzana|first3=A.|last4=Benazzi|first4=S.|last5=T.|first5=M. Ryan|year=2019|title=A 3.8-million-year-old hominin cranium from Woranso-Mille, Ethiopia|journal=Nature|volume=573|issue=7773|pages=214–219|doi=10.1038/s41586-019-1513-8|bibcode=2019Natur.573..214H|pmid=31462770|hdl=11585/697577|s2cid=201656331|hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref name="McNulty2016"/><ref name="Kimbel">{{cite journal |last1=Kimbel |first1=W. H. |last2=Lockwood |first2=C. A. |first3=C. V. |last3=Ward |first4=M. G. |last4=Leakey |author4-link=Meave G. Leakey |first5=Y. |last5=Rake |first6=D. C. |last6=Johanson |author6-link=Donald Johanson|title=Was ''Australopithecus anamensis'' ancestral to ''A. afarensis''? A case of anagenesis in the hominin fossil record |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |year=2006 |volume=51 |issue=2 |pages=134–152 |doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2006.02.003 |pmid=16630646|bibcode=2006JHumE..51..134K }}</ref>

In 1979, Johanson and White proposed that ''A. afarensis'' was the last common ancestor between ''Homo'' and ''[[Paranthropus]]'', supplanting ''A. africanus'' in this role.<ref>{{cite journal|first1=D. C.|last1=Johanson|author-link=Donald Johanson|first2=T. D.|last2=White|author2-link=Tim D. White|year=1979|title=A Systematic Assessment of Early African Hominids|journal=Science|volume=203|issue=4378|pages=321–330|doi=10.1126/science.104384|pmid=104384|bibcode=1979Sci...203..321J}}</ref> Considerable debate of the validity of this species followed, with proposals for [[synonym (taxonomy)|synonymising]] them with ''A. africanus'' or recognising multiple species from the Laetoli and Hadar remains. In 1980, South African palaeoanthropologist [[Phillip V. Tobias]] proposed reclassifying the Laetoli specimens as ''A. africanus afarensis'' and the Hadar specimens as ''A. afr. aethiopicus''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Tobias|first=Phillip V.|date=1980|title="Australopithecus afarensis" and A. africanus: Critique and an alternative hypothesis|journal=Palaeontologia Africana|s2cid=81551249}}</ref> The skull KNM-ER 1470 (now ''[[H. rudolfensis]]'') was at first dated to 2.9 million years ago, which cast doubt on the ancestral position of both ''A. afarensis'' or ''A. africanus'', but it has been re-dated to about 2 million years ago.<ref name=Delson2004>{{cite book|first1=E.|last1=Delson|first2=I.|last2=Tattersall|author2-link=Ian Tattersall|first3=J.|last3=Van Couvering|first4=A. S.|last4=Brooks|year=2004|title=Encyclopedia of Human Evolution and Prehistory|edition=2nd|publisher=Routledge|pages=118–120|isbn=978-1-135-58228-9}}</ref> Several ''Australopithecus'' species have since been postulated to represent the ancestor to ''Homo'', but the 2013 discovery of the earliest ''Homo'' specimen, [[LD 350-1]], 2.8 million years old (older than almost all other ''Australopithecus'' species) from the Afar Region could potentially affirm ''A. afarensis''{{'}} ancestral position.<ref name="Villmoare2015">{{cite journal|first1=B.|last1=Villmoare|first2=W. H.|last2=Kimbel|first3=C.|last3=Seyoum|display-authors=et al.|year=2015|title=Early ''Homo'' at 2.8 Ma from Ledi-Geraru, Afar, Ethiopia|journal=Science|volume=347|issue=6228|pages=1352–1355|doi=10.1126/science.aaa1343|doi-access=free|pmid=25739410|bibcode=2015Sci...347.1352V}}</ref> However, ''A. afarensis'' is also argued to have been too derived (too specialised), due to resemblance in jaw anatomy to the robust australopithecines, to have been a human ancestor.<ref name="Rak2007"/>

Palaeoartist [[Walter Ferguson]] has proposed splitting ''A. afarensis'' into "''H. antiquus''", a [[relict population|relict]] [[dryopithecine]] "''Ramapithecus''" (now ''[[Kenyapithecus]]'') and a subspecies of ''A. africanus''. His recommendations have largely been ignored.<ref name=White1994>{{Cite journal|last1=White |first1=T. D.|author-link=Tim D. White|last2=Suwa |first2=G.|author-link2=Gen Suwa|last3=Asfaw |first3=B. |author-link3=Berhane Asfaw|title=''Australopithecus ramidus'', a new species of early hominid from Aramis, Ethiopia |journal=Nature |volume=371 |pages=306–312 |year=1994 |pmid=8090200 |doi=10.1038/371306a0|bibcode=1994Natur.371..306W|issue=6495|s2cid=4347140}}</ref><ref name=Delson2004/> In 2003, Spanish writer [[Camilo José Cela Conde]] and evolutionary biologist [[Francisco J. Ayala]] proposed reinstating "''Praeanthropus''" including ''A. afarensis'' alongside ''[[Sahelanthropus]]'', ''[[A. anamensis]]'', ''[[A. bahrelghazali]]'' and ''[[A. garhi]]''.<ref name="Cela-CondeAyala2003">{{Cite journal | last1 = Cela-Conde | first1 = C. J.|author1-link=Camilo José Cela Conde| last2 = Ayala | first2 = F. J. |author2-link=Francisco J. Ayala| title = Genera of the human lineage | doi = 10.1073/pnas.0832372100 | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | volume = 100 | issue = 13 | pages = 7684–7689 | year = 2003 | pmid = 12794185| pmc = 164648 | bibcode = 2003PNAS..100.7684C| doi-access = free}}</ref> In 2004, Danish biologist Bjarne Westergaard and geologist Niels Bonde proposed splitting off "''Homo hadar''" with the 3.2-million-year-old partial skull AL 333–45 as the holotype, because a foot from the First Family was apparently more humanlike than that of Lucy. In 2011, Bonde agreed with Ferguson that Lucy should be split into a new species, though erected a new genus as "''Afaranthropus antiquus''".<ref>{{cite book|first=N.|last=Bonde|year=2011|title=The Symbolic Species Evolved|chapter=Hominid Diversity and 'Ancestor' Myths|publisher=Springer Nature|isbn=978-94-007-2336-8}}</ref>

In 1996, a 3.6-million-year-old jaw from [[Koro Toro]], Chad, originally classified as ''A. afarensis'' was split off into a new species as ''[[A. bahrelghazali]]''.<ref>{{cite journal|first1=M.|last1=Brunet|author-link=Michel Brunet (paleontologist)|first2=A.|last2=Beauvilain|first3=Y.|last3=Coppens|author3-link=Yves Coppens|last4=Heintz |first4=É. |last5=Moutaye |first5=A. H. E |last6=Pilbeam |first6=D. |author6-link=David Pilbeam|year=1996 |url=https://afanporsaber.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Australopithecus-bahrelghazali-une-nouvelle-esp%C3%A8ce-dHominid%C3%A9-ancien-de-la-r%C3%A9gion-de-Koro-Toro-Tchad.pdf |title=''Australopithecus bahrelghazali'', une nouvelle espèce d'Hominidé ancien de la région de Koro Toro (Tchad) |journal=Comptes Rendus des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences |volume=322 |pages=907–913}}</ref> In 2015, some 3.5- to 3.3-million-year-old jaw specimens from the Afar Region (the same time and place as ''A. afarensis'') were classified as a new species as ''[[A. deyiremeda]]'', and the recognition of this species would call into question the species designation of fossils currently assigned to ''A. afarensis''.<ref>{{Cite journal|doi=10.1038/nature14448|pmid=26017448|title=New species from Ethiopia further expands Middle Pliocene hominin diversity|journal=Nature|volume=521|issue=7553|pages=483–488|year=2015|last1=Haile-Selassie|first1=Y|author1-link=Yohannes Haile-Selassie|last2=Gibert|first2=L.|last3=Melillo|first3=S. M.|last4=Ryan|first4=T. M.|last5=Alene|first5=M.|last6=Deino|first6=A.|last7=Levin|first7=N. E.|last8=Scott|first8=G.|last9=Saylor|first9=B. Z.|bibcode=2015Natur.521..483H|s2cid=4455029}}</ref> However, the validity of ''A. bahrelghazali'' and ''A. deyiremeda'' is debated.<ref>{{cite journal|first1=F.|last1=Spoor|first2=M. G.|last2=Leakey|author2-link=Meave Leakey|first3=P.|last3=O'Higgins|year=2016|title=Middle Pliocene hominin diversity: ''Australopithecus deyiremeda'' and ''Kenyanthropus platyops''|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B|volume=371|issue=1698|page=20150231|doi=10.1098/rstb.2015.0231|pmc=4920288|pmid=27298462}}</ref> Wood and Boyle (2016) stated there was "low confidence" that ''A. afarensis'', ''A. bahrelghazali'' and ''A. deyiremeda'' are distinct species, with ''[[Kenyanthropus|Kenyanthropus platyops]]'' perhaps being indistinct from the latter two.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Wood|first1=Bernard|last2=K. Boyle|first2=Eve|date=January 2016|title=Hominin taxic diversity: Fact or fantasy?: HOMININ TAXIC DIVERSITY|journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology|language=en|volume=159|issue=Suppl 61|pages=37–78|doi=10.1002/ajpa.22902|pmid=26808110|doi-access=free}}</ref>
{{African hominin timeline}}