A female Homo erectus pelvis from Gona, Ethiopia.
Analyses of the KNM-WT 15000 Homo erectus juvenile male partial skeleton from Kenya concluded that this species had a tall thin body shape due to specialized locomotor and climatic adaptations. Moreover, it was concluded that H. erectus pelves were obstetrically restricted to birthing a small-brained altricial neonate. Here we describe a nearly complete early Pleistocene adult female H. erectus pelvis from the Busidima Formation of Gona, Afar, Ethiopia. This obstetrically capacious pelvis demonstrates that pelvic shape in H. erectus was evolving in response to increasing fetal brain size. This pelvis indicates that neither adaptations to tropical environments nor endurance running were primary selective factors in determining pelvis morphology in H. erectus during the early Pleistocene.
Simpson
Scott W
SW
Department of Anatomy, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH 44106-4930, USA.
Quade
Jay
J
Levin
Naomi E
NE
Butler
Robert
R
Dupont-Nivet
Guillaume
G
Everett
Melanie
M
Semaw
Sileshi
S
D000220:Adaptation, Biological; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D005075:Biological Evolution; D001827:Body Height; D049628:Body Size; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000196:embryology; D004777:Environment; D005002:Ethiopia; D005260:Female; D005580:Fossils; D015186:Hominidae / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008124:Locomotion; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D036801:Parturition; D010384:Pelvic Bones / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D010388:Pelvis / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D012447:Sacrum / Q000033:anatomy & histology