SPECIES OF THE MONTH: MAY 2011

      AUSTRALOPIHECUS SEDIBA

Phylum : Chordata
Class     : Mammalia
Order   : Primates
Family  : Hominidae
Genus   : Australopithecus
Species : Australopithecus sediba

The discovery of a new species could shed light on human evolution.The discovery of the new species of early human, Australopithecus sediba by South African researchers has caused quite a stir among paleoanthropologists. The researchers said that the hominin shows some surprisingly modern traits and its species may even be an ancestor of our own genus. But other paleoanthropologists are waiting for more detailed analysis of the still-unpublished fossils before they agree on its identity or place in the human family tree.

Australopithecus sediba is a species of Australopithecus, based on fossil remains dated to between 1.95 and 1.78 million years ago in the early Pleistocene.The species is known from at least four partial skeletons discovered in the Malapa Fossil Site at the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site in South Africa. Over one-hundred and thirty fragments from the species have been recovered to date. The partial skeletons were initially described in two papers in the journal Science by American and South African palaeo-anthropologist Lee R. Berger and colleagues.

The first specimen of A. sediba was found by paleoanthropologist Lee Berger's nine-year-old son, Matthew, on August 15, 2008.While exploring near his father's dig site in the dolomitic hills north of Johannesburg, on the Malapa Nature Reserve, Matthew stumbled upon a fossilized bone. The boy alerted his father of the find, who could not believe what he saw, a hominid clavicle and upon turning the block over. The fossil turned out to belong to a 4 ft 2 in (1.27 m) juvenile male, the skull of which was discovered in March 2009 by Berger's team. The find was announced to the public on April 8, 2010.

The researchers said that the hominin shows some surprisingly modern traits and its species may even be an ancestor of our own genus. But other paleoanthropologists are waiting for more detailed analysis of the still-unpublished fossils before they agree on its identity or place in the human family tree. According to new dates reported by Berger in his talk at the annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists (AAPA), the four hominin individuals died when they fell into a "death trap" in a cave about two million years ago at Malapa, South Africa.

In talks at AAPA and the annual meeting of the Paleoanthropology Society last week, Berger and members of his team sketched a quick portrait of Au. sediba, who lived at the mysterious time right after the emergence of our genus Homo between twomillion to three million years ago. Researchers have long wondered which of several species of Australopithecus gave rise to the first members of our genus, with Lucy's species Au. afarensis as the leading candidate. The trove of well-preserved bones includes clavicles, shoulder blades, and ribs as well as a complete skull, hand, foot, and two pelvises.

Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report_four-new-species-discovered-may-shed-light-on-human-evolution_1535432

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australopithecus_sediba