title: Metatarsal fusion pattern and developmental morphology of the Olduvai Hominid 8 foot: Evidence of adolescence.
abstract: The morphology of the Olduvai Hominid (OH) 8 foot and the sequence of metatarsal epiphyseal fusion in modern humans and chimpanzees support the hypothesis that OH 8 belonged to an individual of approximately the same relative age as the OH 7 subadult, the holotype of Homo habilis. Modern humans and chimpanzees exhibit a variety of metatarsal epiphyseal fusion patterns, including one identical to that observed in OH 8 in which metatarsal 1 fuses before metatarsals 2-5. More than the metatarsal fusion sequence, however, the principal evidence of the youthful age of OH 8 lies in the morphology of metatarsals 1, 2, and 3. Because both OH 8 and OH 7 come from the same stratum at the FLK NN type site, the most parsimonious explanation of the OH 8 and OH 7 data is that this material belonged to the same individual, as originally proposed by Louis Leakey. The proposition that OH 8 belonged to an adult is unsupported by morphology, including radiographic evidence, and the fusion sequences in human and chimpanzee skeletal material reported here and in the literature.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomical Sciences, School of Medicine, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-8081, USA. randall.susman@stonybrook.edu
authors.forename: Randall L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Susman
authors.forename: Biren A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: Megan J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Francis
authors.forename: Hugo F V
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Cardoso
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D004838:Epiphyses / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D005260:Female; D005580:Fossils; D015186:Hominidae / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008682:Metatarsal Bones / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D002679:Pan troglodytes / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D055114:X-Ray Microtomography