Question

The discoverers of Orrorin have made a very bold claim about this fossil hominid---that it is more similar to humans in both its dental and post-cranial morphology, than is Lucy. That is, this 6myo fossil, two million years older than Lucy (A. afarensis) is More similar to humans than Lucy is. This partly explains the assignment of these fossil remains to a new genus - Orrorin (which means "Original Man"). In their view, what does that mean for Lucy and the other australopithecines?

Answer 1

Australopithecus afarensis was a species of hominin lived around 4 to 2.8 Million years ago.they were able to walk in two feet (bipedal).

Ardipithecus ramidus was delivered in 1993 by Gen Suwa, Mr.Tim white and Berhane Asfaw at Ethiopia (Aramis). It was lived around 4.4 million years ago. Its canine were smaller than primitive apes by larger than Australopithecus. Teeth with thin enamel, molar teeth were deciduous and larger than modern human but smaller than apes. The postcranial skeleton shows that they were bipedal at some level when they walked on the ground but quadrupled when they climbed on the trees.

Hence,according to them new genus -Oronins was more similar or near to modern homosapiens.They may be evolved from Australopithecus afrensis due to revolution and interbreed mating with other similar contemporary genuses.