Department of Anatomy, Midwestern University, Downers Grove, IL 60515, USA.
Science. 2012 Oct 26;338(6106):514-7. doi: 10.1126/science.1227123.
Scapular morphology is predictive of locomotor adaptations among primates, but this skeletal element is scarce in the hominin fossil record. Notably, both scapulae of the juvenile Australopithecus afarensis skeleton from Dikika, Ethiopia, have been recovered. These scapulae display several traits characteristic of suspensory apes, as do the few known fragmentary adult australopith representatives. Many of these traits change significantly throughout modern human ontogeny, but remain stable in apes. Thus, the similarity of juvenile and adult fossil morphologies implies that A. afarensis development was apelike. Additionally, changes in other scapular traits throughout African ape development are associated with shifts in locomotor behavior. This affirms the functional relevance of those characteristics, and their presence in australopith fossils supports the hypothesis that their locomotor repertoire included a substantial amount of climbing.
肩胛骨形态是灵长类动物运动适应的预测指标，但这块骨骼在人类化石记录中却很少见。值得注意的是，埃塞俄比亚迪基卡出土的幼年南方古猿阿法种骨骼的两块肩胛骨都被发现了。这些肩胛骨表现出了一些与悬挂猿类相似的特征，而已知的少数零碎的成年南方古猿代表也有这些特征。在现代人类的个体发育过程中，许多这些特征发生了显著变化，但在猿类中却保持稳定。因此，幼年和成年化石形态的相似性表明，阿法南方古猿的发育是类猿的。此外，非洲猿类发育过程中肩胛骨其他特征的变化与运动行为的转变有关。这证实了这些特征的功能相关性，它们在南方古猿化石中的存在支持了它们的运动范围包括大量攀爬的假说。
