Question

There is a gap in the "fossil hominin record for the crucial period before 4.2 million years ago when Australopithecus anamensis appeared." Explain the gap and what new discoveries are helping fill in the missing information.

Answer 1

Ans . Australopithecu anamensis may have been the earliest australopithecine species. They lived about 4.2 - 3.9 million years ago in east africa. Anamensis was bipedal but may still have been an efficient tree climber.

Early hominins ( Gracile species):-

i) Australopithecus anamensis ( 4.2 -3.9 mya)

ii) Australopithecus afarensis (3.7 - 3.0 mya)

iii) Australopithecus africanus (3.3-2.5 mya)

iv) Australopithecus garhi ( 2.5 mya)
v) Australopithecus sediba (1.977 mya)

Early hominins (robust species):-

i)Paranthropus aethiopicus (2.5 mya )

ii) paranthropus robustus (2.0 -1.4 mya)

iii) paranthropus boisei (2.4 - 1.4 mya )

Early hominin skull fills in a major gap in the fossil record.

According to new discoveries, the teeth of fossil of immediate ancestor of australopithecines seem to have been transition between apes and Australopithecus anamensis.