Kudu runner believes:
> And apiths still not the ancestors of African apes.
Yes, probably not the direct ancestors, but close relatives:
-E.Afr.apiths of Gorilla,
-S.Afr.apiths of Pan:
• “Alan has analysed a nr of Au.robustus teeth and they fall into the fruit-eating category. More precisely, their teeth patterns look like those of chimpanzees... Then, when be looked at some H.erectus teeth, be found that the pattern changed”. Leakey 1981
• “The ‘keystone’ nasal bone arrangement suggested as a derived diagnostic of Paranthropus [robustus] is found in an appreciable number of pongids, particularly clearly in some chimpanzees”. Eckhardt 1987
• “P.paniscus provides a suitable comparison for Australopithecus... similar in body size, postcranial dimensions and... even in cranial and facial features”. Zihlman cs 1978
• “A. africanus Sts.5, which... falls well within the range of Pan troglodytes, is markedly prognathous or hyperprognathous". Ferguson, 1989a.
• In Taung, “I see nothing in the orbits, nasal bones, and canine teeth definitely nearer to the human condition than the corresponding parts of the skull of a modern young chimpanzee”. Woodward 1925
• “The Taung juvenile seems to resemble a young chimpanzee more closely than it resembles L338y-6”, a juvenile boisei. Rak & Howell 1978
• “In addition to similarities in facial remodeling it appears that Taung and Australopithecus in general, had maturation periods similar to those of the extant chimpanzee”. Bromage 1985
• “I estimate an adult capacity for Taung ranging from 404-420 cm2, with a mean of 412 cm2. Application of Passingham’s curve for brain development in Pan is preferable to that for humans: (a) brain size of early hominids approximates that of chimpanzees, (b) the curves for brain volume relative to body weight are essentially parallel in pongids and australopithecines, leading Hofman to conclude that ‘as with pongids, the australopithecines probably differed only in size, not in design’”. Falk 1987
• In Taung, “pneumatization has also extended into the zygoma & hard palate. This is intriguing because an intrapalatal extension of the maxillary sinus has only been reported in chimpanzees & robust australopithecines among higher primates”. Bromage & Dean 1985
• “That the fossil ape Australopithecus [Taung] ‘is distinguished from all living apes by the... unfused nasal bones…’ as claimed by Dart (1940), cannot be maintained in view of the very considerable number of cases of separate nasal bones among orang-utans & chimpanzees of ages corresponding to that of Australopithecus”. Schultz 1941
• “The evolution of the australopithecine crania was the antithesis of the Homo line. Instead of becoming less ape-like, as in Homo, they become more ‘ape-like’. Cranial proportions and ectocranial features that were thought to be unique among pongids evolved [also] in the australopithecines ... The features of KNM-WT 17000, therefore, are not as ‘primitive’ as they look. The robust Australopithecus did not evolve from a big-toothed pongid ancestor with large cranial superstructures, but from a small-toothed hominid with a rounder, smoother ectocranium, like A.africanus”. Ferguson 1989
• “Plio-Pleistocene hominids had markedly abbreviated [enamel] growth periods relative to modern man, similar to those of the modem great apes”. Bromage & Dean 1985
• “Enamel thickness has been secondarily reduced in the African apes and also, although at a different rare and extent, in the orang-utan. Thick enamel, previously the most important characteristic in arguments about the earliest hominid, does not therefore identify a hominid”. Martin 1985
• In the S.African fossils incl.Taung, “sulcal patterns of 7 australopithecine encocasts appear to be ape-like rather than human-like”. Falk 1987
• “Cranial capacity, the relationship between endocast and skull, sulcal pattern, brain shape and cranial venous sinuses, all of these features appear to be consistent with an ape-like external cortical morphology in Hadar early hominids”. Falk 1985
• In the type spm of afarensis, “the lower 3rd premolar of ‘A.africanus afarensis’ LH-4 is completely apelike”. Ferguson 1987
• “A.afarensis is much more similar cranially to the modern African apes than to modern humans”. Schoenemann 1989
• “Olson's assertion that the lateral inflation of the A.L.333-45 mastoids is greater than in any extant ape is incorrect if the fossil is compared to P.troglodytes males or some Gorilla males and females. Moreover, the pattern of pneumatization in A.afarensis is also found only in the extant apes among other hominoids”. Kimbel cs 1984
• “Prior to the identification of A.afarensis the asterionic notch was thought to characterize only the apes among hominoids. Kimbel and Rak relate this asterionic sutural figuration to the pattern of cranial cresting and temporal bone pneumatization shared by A.afarensis and the extant apes”. Kimbel cs 1984
• “... the fact that two presumed Paranthropus [robustus] skulls were furnished with high sagittal crests implied that they had also possessed powerful occipital crests and ape-like planum nuchale... Nuchal crests which are no more prominent - and indeed some less prominent - will be found in many adult apes”. Zuckerman 1954
• In Sts.5, MLD-37/38, SK-47, SK-48, SK-83, Taung, KNM-ER 406, O.H.24 & O.H.5, “craniometric analysis showed that they had marked similarities to those of extant pongids. These basicranial similarities between Plio-Pleistocene hominids and extant apes suggest that the upper respiratory systems of these groups were also alike in appearance... Markedly flexed basicrania [are] found only in modern humans after the second year...”. Laitman & Heimbuch 1982
• “The total morphological pattern with regard to the nasal region of Australopithecus can be characterized by a flat, non-protruding nasal skeleton which does not differ qualitatively from the extant nonhuman hominoid pattern, one which is in marked contrast to the protruding nasal skeleton of modern H. sapiens”. Franciscus & Trinkaus 1988
• “Incisal dental microwear in A.afarensis is most similar to that observed in Gorilla”. Ryan & Johanson 1989
• The composite skull reconstructed mostly from A.L.333 specimens “looked very much like a small female gorilla”. Johanson & Edey 1981
• “Other primitive [=advanced gorilla-like] features found in KNM-WT 17000, but not know or much discussed for A.afarensis, are: very small cranial capacity; low posterior profile of the calvaria; nasals extended far above the frontomaxillar suture and well onto an uninflated glabella; and extremely convex inferolateral margins of the orbits such as found in some gorillas”. Walker cs 1986
• As for the maximum parietal breadth & the biauriculare in O.H.5 & KNM-ER 406 “the robust australopithecines have values near the Gorilla mean: both the pongids and the robust australopithecines have highly pneumatized bases”. Kennedy 1991
• In O.H.5, “the curious and characteristic features of the Paranthropus skull... parallel some of those of the gorilla”. Robinson 1960
• The boisei “lineage has been characterized by sexual dimorphism of the degree seen in modern Gorilla for the length of its known history”. Leakey & Walker 1988
• boisei teeth showed “a relative absence of prism decussation”; among extant hominoids, “Gorilla enamel showed relatively little decussation ...”. Beynon & Wood 1986
Etc.etc.
Only incredible idiots believe they descend from Lucy.
And all these apiths lived in swamp forests:
-Lukeino KNM-LU 335 “pre-australopithecine”: ‘The red beds seems to contain marginal lacustrine deposits as indicated by the presence of algal mats and lacustrine bivalves (including complete specimens with valves in the closed position)’ Pickford 1975
-Tabarin KNM-TH 13150 “pre-australopithecine”: ‘The fauna includes aquatic animals such as molluscs, fish, turtles, crocodiles, and hippotami, along with others that might be found in the vicinity of a lake of river’ Ward & Hill 1987
-Kanapoi KNM-KP 29281 Au.anamensis: Fish, aquatic reptiles, kudus and monkeys are prevalent. ‘A wide gallery forest would have almost certainly been present on the large river that brought in the sediments’ Leakey cs 1995
-Chad KT 12 A.cf.afarensis: ‘The non-hominid fauna contains aquatic taxa (such as Siluridae, Trionyx, cf.Tomistoma), taxa adapted to wooded habitats (such as Loxodonta, Kobus, Kolpochoerus) and to more open areas (such as Ceratotherium, Hipparion) […] compatible with a lakeside environment’ Brunet cs 1995
-Garusi-Laetoli L.H. A.anamensis or afarensis: Teeth & mandible fragments, the hardest skeletal parts which are frequently left over by carnivores (Morden 1988), come from wind-blown & air-fall tuffs. Leakey cs 1976
-Hadar, Afar Locality: ‘Generally, the sediments represent lacustrine, lake margin, and associated fluvial deposits related to an extensive lake that periodically filled the entire basin’ Johanson cs 1982
-Hadar AL.333 afarensis: ‘The bones were found in swale-like features […] it is very likely that they died and partially rotted at or very near this site […] this group of hominids was buried in streamside gallery woodland’ Radosevich cs 1992
-Hadar AL.288 gracile A.afarensis Lucy lay in a small, slow moving stream. ‘Fossil preservation at this locality is excellent, remains of delicate items such as crocodile and turtle eggs and crab claws being found’ Johanson & Taieb 1976
-Makapan A. africanus: ‘[…] very different conditions from those prevailing today. Higher rainfall, fertile, alkaline soils and moderate relief supported significant patches of sub-tropical forest and thick bush, rather than savannah. Taphonomic considerations […] suggest that sub-tropical forest was the hominins’ preferred habitat rather than grassland or bushveld, and the adaptations of these animals was therefore fitted to a forest habitat’ Rayner cs 1993
-Taung australopithecine: ‘the clayey matrix from which the Taung cranium was extracted, and the frequent occurrence of calcite veins and void fillings within it (Butzer, 1974, 1980) do suggest a more humid environment during its accumulation’ Partridge 1985
-StF A.africanus and Swartkrans A.robustus: Many S.African australopithecines are discovered in riverside caves, presumably often filled with the remainders of the consumption process of large felids. Brain 1981
-Kromdraai: A.robustus was found near grassveld & streamside or marsh vegetation, in the vicinity of quail, pipits, starlings, swallows & parrots, lovebirds & similar psittacine birds. TN Pocock in Brain 1981
-Turkana KNM-ER 17000 & 16005: A.aethiopicus was discovered near the boundary between overbank deposits of large perennial river & alluvial fan deposits, amid water- & reedbucks. Walker cs 1986
-Lake Turkana: ‘The lake margins were generally swampy, with extensive areas of mudflats […] Au.boisei was more abundant in fluvial environments, whereas Homo habilis was rare in such environments […] Australopithecus fossils are more common than Homo both in channel and floodplain deposits. The gracile hominids […] seem to be more restricted ecologically to the lake margin than are the robust forms’ Conroy 1990
-Ileret A.boisei: ‘the fossil sample reflects climatic and ecological environmental conditions differing significantly from those of the present day. At Ilerat, 1.5 Myr ago, climatic conditions must have been cooler and more humid than today, and more favourable to extensive forests […] The prominence of montane forest is particularly striking […] dominated by Gramineae and Chenopodiaceae appropriate to the margins of a slightly saline or alkaline lake’ Bonnefille 1976
-Konso A.boisei: ‘The highly fossiliferous sands at the mid-section of KGA10 are interpreted to be the middle to distal portions of an alluvial fan, deposited adjacent to, and extending into, a lake. Fossils and artefacts deriving from horizons of sands and silts are not abraded and show evidence of minimal transport. A large mammalian assemblage has been collected from the deposits, showing a striking dominance of Alcelaphini […] to indicate the presence of extensive dry grasslands at KGA10’ Suwa cs 1997
-Chesowanja A.boisei: ‘The fossiliferous sediments were deposited in a lagoon […] Abundant root casts […] suggest that the embayment was flanked by reeds and the presence of calcareous algae indicates that the lagoon was warm and shallow. Bellamya and catfish are animals tolerant of relatively stagnant water, and such situation would also be suitable for turtles and crocodiles’ Carney cs 1971
-Olduvai middle Bed I: boisei O.H.5 as well as habilis O.H.7 & O.H.62 were found in the most densely vegetated, wettest condition, with the highest lake levels. Walter cs 1991, near ostracods, freshwater snails, fish, and aquatic birds. Conroy 1990
-‘[…] the middle Bed-I faunas indicate a very rich closed woodland environment, richer than any part of the present-day savanna biome in Africa […]’ Fernández-Jalvo cs 1998
-‘Fossilized leaves and pollen are rare in the sediments of Beds I and II, but swamp vegetation is indicated by abundant vertical roots channels and casts possibly made by some kind of reed. Fossil rhizomes of papyrus also suggest the presence of marshland and/or shallow water’ Conroy 1990
-‘[…] Cyperaceae fruits were common in H. habilis habitat (Bonnefille, 1984). Ancient Egyptians ate Cyperus papyrus root which was also present at Olduvai in swamp-margins and river banks’ Puech 1992
:-DDD
Already caught your kudu, my boy?