![]() Map showing discovery locations.Īrdipithecus ramidus had a small brain, measuring between 300 and 350 cm 3. The fossils were dated to between 4.35 and 4.45 million years old. ramidus individuals at As Duma in the Gona area of Ethiopia's Afar Region. Between 19, a multidisciplinary team led by Sileshi Semaw discovered bones and teeth of nine A. This fossil was originally described as a species of Australopithecus, but White and his colleagues later published a note in the same journal renaming the fossil under a new genus, Ardipithecus. More fragments were recovered in 1994, amounting to 45% of the total skeleton. ramidus fossils-seventeen fragments including skull, mandible, teeth and arm bones-from the Afar Depression in the Middle Awash river valley of Ethiopia. In 1992–1993 a research team headed by Tim White discovered the first A. Like later hominins, Ardipithecus had reduced canine teeth and reduced canine sexual dimorphism. It is not confirmed how many other features of its skeleton reflect adaptation to bipedalism on the ground as well. Like most hominids, but unlike all previously recognized hominins, it had a grasping hallux or big toe adapted for locomotion in the trees. The pithecus portion of the name is from the Greek word for "ape". The name Ardipithecus ramidus stems mostly from the Afar language, in which Ardi means "ground/floor" and ramid means "root". The first fossil found was dated to 4.4 million years ago on the basis of its stratigraphic position between two volcanic strata: the basal Gaala Tuff Complex (G.A.T.C.) and the Daam Aatu Basaltic Tuff (D.A.B.T.). Cladistically, then, Australopithecus (and eventually Homo sapiens) indeed emerged within the Ardipithecus lineage, and this lineage is not literally extinct.Ī. This means that Australopithecus is distinctly closer related to Ardipithecus ramidus than Ardipithecus kadabba. Some analyses describe Australopithecus as being sister to Ardipithecus ramidus specifically. ![]() Initial behavioral analysis indicated that Ardipithecus could be very similar to chimpanzees, however more recent analysis based on canine size and lack of canine sexual dimorphism indicates that Ardipithecus was characterised by reduced aggression, and that they more closely resemble bonobos. Two fossil species are described in the literature: A. ramidus, which lived about 4.4 million years ago during the early Pliocene, and A. kadabba, dated to approximately 5.6 million years ago (late Miocene). Originally described as one of the earliest ancestors of humans after they diverged from the chimpanzees, the relation of this genus to human ancestors and whether it is a hominin is now a matter of debate. Ardipithecus ramidus specimen, nicknamed ArdiĪrdipithecus is a genus of an extinct hominine that lived during the Late Miocene and Early Pliocene epochs in the Afar Depression, Ethiopia.
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