title: The hand of Homo naledi.
abstract: A nearly complete right hand of an adult hominin was recovered from the Rising Star cave system, South Africa. Based on associated hominin material, the bones of this hand are attributed to Homo naledi. This hand reveals a long, robust thumb and derived wrist morphology that is shared with Neandertals and modern humans, and considered adaptive for intensified manual manipulation. However, the finger bones are longer and more curved than in most australopiths, indicating frequent use of the hand during life for strong grasping during locomotor climbing and suspension. These markedly curved digits in combination with an otherwise human-like wrist and palm indicate a significant degree of climbing, despite the derived nature of many aspects of the hand and other regions of the postcranial skeleton in H. naledi.
authors.affiliation: Animal Postcranial Evolution Lab, Skeletal Biology Research Centre, School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Marlowe Building, Canterbury CT2 7NR, UK.|Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig 04103, Germany.|Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre for Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits 2050, South Africa.
authors.forename: Tracy L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Kivell
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre for Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits 2050, South Africa.|Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, College of Medicine, University of Kentucky, MN 224 UK Medical Centre, Lexington, Kentucky 40536-0098, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Deane
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay Ontario, Canada P7K 1L8.|Human Origins Program, Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC 20560, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Tocheri
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado 80045, USA.
authors.forename: Caley M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Orr
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre for Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits 2050, South Africa.|Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zuerich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zuerich CH-8057, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schmid
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre for Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits 2050, South Africa.|Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53593, USA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hawks
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre for Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits 2050, South Africa.
authors.forename: Lee R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre for Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits 2050, South Africa.|Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Box 90383, Durham, North Carolina 27708-9976, USA.
authors.forename: Steven E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Churchill
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D005580:Fossils; D006071:Gorilla gorilla / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D006225:Hand / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D050276:Hand Bones / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D015186:Hominidae / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D059125:Neanderthals / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D019974:Pan paniscus / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D002679:Pan troglodytes / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D013933:Thumb / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D014953:Wrist / Q000033:anatomy & histology*