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The Thoracic Cage of KSD-VP-1/1

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The Postcranial Anatomy of Australopithecus afarensis

Part of the book series: Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology ((VERT))

Abstract

Ribs are naturally fragile and, as a consequence, are rarely preserved in the fossil record. The costal elements recovered from the KSD-VP-1/1 partial skeleton are important evidence allowing reconstruction of the hominin thoracic cage. The ribs of KSD-VP-1/1 are examined with respect to their implications for the evolution of Australopithecus afarensis thoracic morphology. Angulation and torsion along the rib corpus and rib declination indicate a broad upper thorax and a deeply invaginated thoracic vertebral column. Implications for the early hominin thoracic bauplan are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage (ARCCH) of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Ethiopia and administrative offices of the Afar Regional State of Ethiopia for field and laboratory research permits. We thank M. Decker, S. Simpson, and two anonymous reviewers for valuable comments. We also thank D. Su for help with figures. The Woranso-Mille project was financially supported by grants from The Leakey Foundation, The Wenner-Gren Foundation, The National Geographic Society, The Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and The National Science Foundation (BCS-0234320, BCS-0321893, BCS-0542037, BCS-1124705, BCS-1124713, BCS-1124716, BCS-1125157, and BCS-1125345).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthodontics School of Dental Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, 44106, USA

    Bruce M. Latimer

  2. Department of Physical Anthropology, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, 1 Wade Oval Drive, Cleveland, OH, 44106, USA

    Bruce M. Latimer, C. Owen Lovejoy, Linda Spurlock & Yohannes Haile-Selassie

  3. Department of Anthropology and Division of Biomedical Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH, 44242, USA

    C. Owen Lovejoy & Linda Spurlock

Authors
  1. Bruce M. Latimer
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  2. C. Owen Lovejoy
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  4. Yohannes Haile-Selassie
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Correspondence to Bruce M. Latimer .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept Physical Anthropology, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

    Yohannes Haile-Selassie

  2. Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

    Denise F. Su

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Latimer, B.M., Lovejoy, C.O., Spurlock, L., Haile-Selassie, Y. (2016). The Thoracic Cage of KSD-VP-1/1. In: Haile-Selassie, Y., Su, D. (eds) The Postcranial Anatomy of Australopithecus afarensis. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7429-1_7

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