Evolution of humans: Au sediba (Introduction)

by David Turell , Friday, April 12, 2013, 22:36 (4221 days ago) @ David Turell

More about Au. sediba. A branch or a direct line?-http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/35079/title/Human-Ancestors-/-"Despite the anatomical similarities between Au. sediba and Homo, whether the former was an ancestor of modern humans is still up for debate. "Anatomy is very prone to independent evolution," said Richmond. "I think the jury is still out on whether this could have been an ancestor of the Homo genus. . . . There's not enough compelling evidence."
 
But Churchill is convinced. In addition to the features documented in the current papers, the previous Science papers showed Homo-like features in Au. sediba's brain—determined from patterns on the inside of the skull—pelvis, and hand—the latter indicating Au. sediba engaged in Homo-like tool use. "It seems to me much more parsimonious that they share these features with Homo because they are the ancestors of Homo, rather than because they evolved in parallel," Churchill said.
 
There is another possible hiccup to the theory of Au. sediba as the ancestor of Homo, however, said Richmond. "This particular set of fossils"—calculated to be a little less than 2 million years old—"is too recent in time to be the ancestor of Homo. . . . We already have Homo habillis at this time and Homo erectus only a short time later."
 
But Churchill argued that there's no reason why the two species couldn't have coexisted."