Abstract:
Recent discoveries of Homo floresiensis and H. luzonensis raise questions regarding how extreme body size reduction occurred in some extinct Homo species in insular environments. Previous investigations at Mata Menge, Flores Island, Indonesia, suggested that the early Middle Pleistocene ancestors of H. floresiensis had even smaller jaws and teeth. Here, we report additional hominin fossils from the same deposits at Mata Menge. An adult humerus is estimated to be 9 - 16% shorter and thinner than the type specimen of H. floresiensis dated to ~60,000 years ago, and is smaller than any other Plio-Pleistocene adult hominin humeri hitherto reported. The newly recovered teeth are both exceptionally small; one of them bears closer morphological similarities to early Javanese H. erectus. The H. floresiensis lineage most likely evolved from early Asian H. erectus and was a long-lasting lineage on Flores with markedly diminutive body size since at least ~700,000 years ago.
摘要:
Floresiensis和H.luzonensis的最新发现引发了有关在岛状环境中某些已灭绝的人物种如何极端缩小体型的问题。MataMenge以前的调查,弗洛雷斯岛,印度尼西亚,表明H.floresiensis的中更新世早期祖先的颌骨和牙齿更小。这里,我们报告了来自MataMenge相同矿床的其他古人类化石。据估计,成年肱骨比距今约60,000年前的Floresiensis类型标本短9-16%,并且比迄今报道的任何其他上新世成年人类肱骨都要小。新恢复的牙齿都非常小;其中之一与早期爪哇直立人的形态相似。Floresiensis谱系很可能是从早期亚洲直立人进化而来的,并且是弗洛雷斯的持久谱系,自至少约700,000年前以来,其体型明显减小。