Analysis of the probability of multiple taxa in a combined sample of Swartkrans and Kromdraai dental material.
It has been argued (Grine, [1988] Evolutionary History of the "Robust" Australopithecines [New York. Aldine de Gruyter], pp. 223-243) that the australopithecine material from Swartkrans and Kromdraai represents distinct species. In an attempt to test the validity of separate taxa at Swartkrans and Kromdraai, Cope's (Cope [1989] Systematic Variation in Cercopithecus Dental Samples [Austin: University of Texas]) method of analysis was adapted and utilized. This procedure includes an analysis of the coefficients of variation (CVs) of the individual posterior teeth (buccal-lingual breadth) of a combined fossil sample compared with the CVs of several known single taxon reference groups. The Cope and Lacy (Cope and Lacy [1992] Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 89:359-378) stimulation technique was also employed in the analysis. Based on these analyses, there is no justification for a taxonomic separation between the australopithecine material from Swartkrans and Kromdraai. Therefore, the assertion that the Swartkrans and Kromdraai material represent two distinct species is not indicated by the available dental metric evidence.
Fuller
K
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Department of Anthropology, University of Kansas, Lawrence 66045, USA.
D000818:Animals; D005580:Fossils; D006071:Gorilla gorilla; D006801:Humans; D010161:Paleodontology; D002679:Pan troglodytes; D011336:Probability; D044469:Racial Groups; D013045:Species Specificity; D014070:Tooth / Q000033:anatomy & histology*