Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences, M263 Medical Sciences Building, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65212, USA.
Department of Anthropology, 330 Old Main, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA.
J Hum Evol. 2020 Mar;140:102368. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.07.008. Epub 2017 Aug 23.
Kanapoi, Kenya, has yielded the earliest evidence of the genus Australopithecus, Australopithecus anamensis. Renewed fieldwork from 2012 through 2015 yielded 18 new fossils attributable to this species. The new specimens include the second maxillary fragment known from a Kanapoi hominin and the first from a relatively young adult. The new maxilla has the distinctive rounded nasal aperture margin characteristic of A. anamensis. A second partial proximal tibia from the site is the first postcranial element from a small A. anamensis individual. A new partial mandible and complete mandibular dentition display distinctive Kanapoi hominin morphology, but the mandible displays a larger trigonid on its fourth premolar than any known so far. Two new complete sets of mandibular incisors are also notably large, especially the lateral ones, a distinctive feature of A. anamensis compared with Australopithecus afarensis. The new fossils also highlight the distinctive morphology of Kanapoi A. anamensis compared to later hominins.
肯尼亚的 Kanapoi 遗址出土了最古老的南方古猿属（Australopithecus）物种——南方古猿阿法种（Australopithecus anamensis）的化石证据。2012 年至 2015 年期间，该遗址的新一轮野外发掘工作共出土了 18 件新化石，这些化石都属于该物种。这批新标本包括第二块已知的 Kanapoi 古人类上颌骨碎片，以及第一块来自相对年轻的成年个体的上颌骨。这块新的上颌骨具有南方古猿阿法种特有的圆形鼻口缘。在该遗址发现的第二块近端胫骨是第一个来自小个体南方古猿阿法种的后肢骨骼化石。一块新的下颌骨和完整的下颌骨牙齿显示出独特的 Kanapoi 古人类形态，但这块下颌骨的第四前臼齿的三角形后尖比已知的任何标本都要大。两个全新的完整的下颌切牙也特别大，尤其是外侧的切牙，这是南方古猿阿法种与南方古猿阿法种（Australopithecus afarensis）相比的一个显著特征。这些新化石还突出了与后期人类相比，Kanapoi 南方古猿阿法种的独特形态。
