The Bearing of East Rudolf Fossils on Early Hominid Systematics

Abstract

LEAKEY has provided another very useful progress report on fossil hominid recovery from East Rudolf¹. Some interesting points emerge from this and a previous report²; one is the influence that taxonomic nomenclature can exert on ideas of hominid affinities. His preliminary conclusions suggest that the classification of early hominids based on the South African sample needs revision in the light of the East Rudolf finds^1,3. In particular he argues that the East Rudolf specimens provide no support for more than one species of australopithecine. Here I suggest that, on the contrary, his interpretation of the East Rudolf material and mine of the South African finds are in remarkably close agreement; the difference between them is more apparent than real and stems from nomenclatural rather than biological considerations.