Department of Organismal Biology & Anatomy, The University of Chicago, Anatomy Bldg 201, 1027 E 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
Department of Organismal Biology & Anatomy, The University of Chicago, Anatomy Bldg 201, 1027 E 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
J Hum Evol. 2023 May;178:103332. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103332. Epub 2023 Mar 21.
In this review, we present on the evolution of the locomotor adaptation of hominins in the Late Miocene to Late Pliocene, with emphasis on some of the prominent advances and debates that have occurred over the past fifty years. We start with the challenging issue of defining hominin locomotor grades that are currently used liberally and offer our own working definitions of facultative, habitual, and obligate bipedalism. We then discuss the nature of the Pan-Homo last common ancestor and characterize the locomotor adaptation of Sahelanthropus, Orrorin, and Ardipithecus-often referred to as facultative bipeds-and examine the debates on the extent of bipedality and arboreality in these taxa. Moreover, the question of Middle Pliocene hominin locomotor diversity is addressed based on information derived from the 'Little Foot' specimen from Sterkfontein, footprints from Laetoli, and the Burtele Foot in Ethiopia. Our review suggests that the most convincing evidence for locomotor diversity comes from Burtele, whereas the evidence from Sterkfontein and Laetoli is unconvincing and equivocal, respectively. Finally, we address the decades old issue of the significance of arboreality in the otherwise habitual biped, Australopithecus, with emphasis on Australopithecus afarensis and its implications for the paleobiology of these creatures. We conclude that many of the apelike features encountered, mostly in the upper part of the Australopithecus skeleton, were retained for their significance in climbing. Approaches that have investigated character plasticity and those exploring internal bone structure have shown that the shoulder and limbs in Au. afarensis and Australopithecus africanus were involved in arboreal activities that are thought to be key for feeding, nesting, and predator avoidance. We conclude that many of the so-called retained ape-like features persisted due to stabilizing selection, that early hominins engaged in a considerable amount of arboreality even after Australopithecus had become a habitual biped, and arboreality only ceased to be an important component of hominin locomotor behavior after the emergence of Homo erectus.
在这篇综述中，我们介绍了从中更新世到晚更新世人类在运动适应方面的演变，重点介绍了过去五十年中出现的一些重要进展和争议。我们首先讨论了定义人类运动等级的难题，目前这些等级被广泛使用，并提出了我们自己对随意性、习惯性和强制性双足行走的工作定义。然后，我们讨论了泛人类最后共同祖先的性质，并描述了 Sahelanthropus、Orrorin 和 Ardipithecus 的运动适应，这些物种通常被称为随意性双足动物，并考察了这些分类单元中双足行走和树栖程度的争论。此外，还根据来自斯特克方丹的“小脚”标本、莱托利的足迹和埃塞俄比亚的伯特尔足迹的信息，探讨了中更新世人类运动多样性的问题。我们的综述表明，伯特尔的证据最令人信服，而斯特克方丹和莱托利的证据则分别不令人信服且模棱两可。最后，我们讨论了几十年来习惯性双足行走的南方古猿中树栖意义的问题，重点是阿法南方古猿及其对这些生物古生物学的影响。我们的结论是，在南方古猿的骨骼上部遇到的许多类人特征，主要是在南方古猿的骨骼上部遇到的许多类人特征，都是为了适应攀爬而保留下来的。研究特征可塑性和探索内部骨骼结构的方法表明，阿法南方古猿和非洲南方古猿的肩部和四肢参与了被认为是觅食、筑巢和躲避捕食者的关键的树栖活动。我们的结论是，许多所谓的保留下来的类人特征是由于稳定选择而保留下来的，早期人类即使在南方古猿成为习惯性双足动物之后，也进行了相当数量的树栖活动，而在直立人出现之后，树栖活动才停止成为人类运动行为的重要组成部分。
