title: PALEOANTHROPOLOGY. Comment on "Early Homo at 2.8 Ma from Ledi-Geraru, Afar, Ethiopia".
abstract: Villmoare et al. (Reports, 20 March 2015, p. 1352) report on a hominin mandible from the Ledi-Geraru research area, Ethiopia, which they claim to be the earliest known representative of the genus Homo. However, certain measurements and observations for Australopithecus sediba mandibles presented are incorrect or are not included in critical aspects of the study. When correctly used, these data demonstrate that specimen LD 350-1 cannot be unequivocally assigned to the genus Homo.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA. Institute for Human Evolution, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. jhawks@wisc.edu.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hawks
authors.affiliation: Institute for Human Evolution, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA.
authors.forename: Darryl J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: de Ruiter
authors.affiliation: Institute for Human Evolution, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
authors.forename: Lee R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Berger
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D015186:Hominidae / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans