The Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Jul 6;107(27):12121-6. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1004527107. Epub 2010 Jun 21.
Only one partial skeleton that includes both forelimb and hindlimb elements has been reported for Australopithecus afarensis. The diminutive size of this specimen (A.L. 288-1 ["Lucy"]) has hampered our understanding of the paleobiology of this species absent the potential impact of allometry. Here we describe a large-bodied (i.e., well within the range of living Homo) specimen that, at 3.58 Ma, also substantially antedates A.L. 288-1. It provides fundamental evidence of limb proportions, thoracic form, and locomotor heritage in Australopithecus afarensis. Together, these characteristics further establish that bipedality in Australopithecus was highly evolved and that thoracic form differed substantially from that of either extant African ape.
仅有一具包含前肢和后肢元素的部分骨骼被报道为南方古猿阿法种。这个标本(A.L. 288-1 ["Lucy"])的小巧尺寸阻碍了我们对这个物种的古生物学的理解,因为没有考虑到异速生长的潜在影响。在这里,我们描述了一个体型较大的标本(即,完全在现代人类的范围内),它的年代也远早于 A.L. 288-1,达到 358 万年前。它为南方古猿阿法种的肢体比例、胸部形态和运动遗传提供了基本证据。这些特征共同进一步确立了南方古猿的直立行走是高度进化的,而且其胸部形态与现生非洲猿类有很大的不同。