Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Pelvic Girdle and Limb Bones of KSD-VP-1/1

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Postcranial Anatomy of Australopithecus afarensis

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

Abstract

The pelvis and limb bones of KSD-VP-1/1 are analyzed with respect to their implications for the history of morphology, gait pattern, and bauplan of Australopithecus afarensis . The pelvis is essentially of modern aspect, and differs little from that of modern humans save in a few minor respects, such as, for example, size of the auricular surface and acetabulum. Its ischial conformation is the direct evidence of a strong history of dynamic running in its immediate ancestors, and its general shape confirms the overall Australopithecus pattern of platypelloidy. The implications with respect to the history of the hominin bauplan are discussed, as are those impacted by recent developments in our understanding of developmental biology. These are reviewed in light of other recent analyses of early hominin morphology and locomotion.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abel, R., & Macho, G. A. (2011). Ontogenetic changes in the internal and external morphology of the ilium in modern humans. Journal of Anatomy, 218, 324–335.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Asfaw, B., White, T. D., Lovejoy, C. O., Latimer, B., Simpson, S. W., & Suwa, G. (1999). Australopithecus garhi: A new species of early hominid from Ethiopia. Science, 284, 629–635.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Begun, D. R. (1992). Miocene fossil hominids and the chimp-human clade. Science, 257, 1929–1933.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benefit, B. R., & McCrossin, M. L. (1995). Miocene hominoids and hominid origins. Annual Review of Anthropology, 24, 237–256.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cunningham, C. A., & Black, S. M. (2009). Anticipating bipedalism: trabecular organization in the newborn ilium. Journal of Anatomy, 214, 817–829.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeSilva, J. M. (2009). Functional morphology of the ankle and the likelihood of climbing in early hominins. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 106, 6567–6572.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeSilva, J. M., & Throckmorton, Z. J. (2010). Lucy’s flat feet: The relationship between the ankle and rearfoot arching in early hominins. PLoS ONE, 5, 1–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drapeau, M. S. M. (2004). Functional anatomy of the olecranon process in hominoids and plio-pleistocene hominins. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 124, 297–314.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drapeau, M. S. M. (2008). Articular morphology of the proximal ulna in extant and fossil hominoids and hominins. Journal of Human Evolution, 55, 86–102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drapeau, M. S. M., Ward, C. V., Kimbel, W. H., Johanson, D. C., & Rak, Y. (2005). Associated cranial and forelimb remains attributed to Australopithecus afarensis from Hadar, Ethiopia. Journal of Human Evolution, 48, 593–642.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drapeau, M. S. M., & Ward, C. V. (2007). Forelimb segment length proportions in extant hominoids and Australopithecus afarensis. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 132, 327–343.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferlic, P. W., Sadoghi, P., Singer, G., Kraus, T., & Eberl, R. (2014). Treatment for ischial tuberosity avulsion fractures in adolescent athletes. Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy: Official Journal of the ESSKA, 22, 893–897.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibson, V., & Prieskorn, D. (2007). The valgus ankle. Foot and Ankle Clinics of North America, 12, 15–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gidwani, S., Jagiello, J., & Bircher, M. (2004). Avulsion fracture of the ischial tuberosity in adolescents – an easily missed diagnosis. British Medical Journal, 329, 99–100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gould, S. J., & Lewontin, R. C. (1979). The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm: a critique of the adaptationist programme. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London (Biology), 205, 147–164.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haile-Selssie, Y., Latimer, B. M., Lovejoy, C. O., Meyer, M. R. (2016). Conclusion: Implications of KSD-VP-1/1 for early hominin paleobiology and insights into the last common ancestor. In Y. Haile-Selassie & D.F. Su (Eds.), The postcranial anatomy of Australopithecus afarensis: New insights from KSD-VP-1/1 (pp. 179–188). Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haile-Selassie, Y., Latimer, B. M., Alene, M., Deino, A. L., Gibert, L., Melillo, S. M., et al. (2010a). An early Australopithecus afarensis postcranium from Woranso-Mille, Ethiopia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 107, 12121–12126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haile-Selassie, Y., Saylor, B. Z., Deino, A., Alene, M., & Latimer, B. M. (2010b). New hominid fossils from Woranso-Mille (Central Afar, Ethiopia) and taxonomy of early Australopithecus. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 141, 406–417.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamrick, M. W. (1999). A chondral modeling theory revisited. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 201, 201–298.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harrison, T., & Rook, L. (1997). Enigmatic anthropoid or misunderstood ape? The phylogenetic status of Oreopithecus bambolii reconsidered. In D. R. Begun, C. V. Ward, & M. D. Rose (Eds.), Function, phylogeny, and fossils: Miocene hominid evolution and adaptations (pp. 327–362). New York: Plenum.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Johanson, D. C., Lovejoy, C. O., Kimbel, W. H., White, T. D., Ward, S. C., Bush, M. E., et al. (1982). Morphology of the Pliocene partial hominid skeleton (A.L. 288-1) from the Hadar formation, Ethiopia. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 57, 403–452.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kibii, J. M., Churchill, S. E., Schmid, P., Carlson, K. J., Reed, N. D., de Ruiter, D. J., & Berger, L. R. (2011). A partial pelvis of Australopithecus sediba. Science, 333, 1407–1411.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Konin, G. P., & Walz, D. M. (2010). Lumbosacral transitional vertebrae: Classification, imaging findings, and clinical relevance. American Journal of Neuroradiology, 31, 1778–1786.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lague, M. R. (2014). The pattern of hominin postcranial evolution reconsidered in light of size-related shape variation of the distal humerus. Journal of Human Evolution, 75, 90–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Le Gros Clark, W. E. (1978). The fossil evidence for human evolution (3rd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Latimer, B. M., Lovejoy, C. O., Spurlock, L., & Haile-Selassie, Y. (2016). The thoracic cage of KSD-VP-1/1. In Y. Haile-Selassie & D.F. Su (Eds.), The postcranial anatomy of Australopithecus afarensis: New insights from KSD-VP-1/1 (pp. 143–153). Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lovejoy, C. O. (1974). The gait of australopithecines. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology, 16, 18–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lovejoy, C. O. (1975). Biomechanical perspectives on the lower limb of early hominids. In R. H. Tuttle (Ed.), Primate morphology and evolution (pp. 291–326). The Hague: Mouton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lovejoy, C. O. (1979). A reconstruction of the pelvis of A.L. 288-1 (Hadar formation, Ethiopia). American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 50, 460.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lovejoy, C. O. (1988). Evolution of human walking. Scientific American, 259, 118–125.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lovejoy, C. O. (2005). The natural history of human gait and posture II: Hip and thigh. Gait and Posture, 21, 129–151.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lovejoy, C. O. (2007a). Evolution of the human lumbopelvic region and its relationship to some clinical deficits of the spine and pelvis. In A. Vleeming, V. Mooney, & R. Stoeckart (Eds.), Movement, stability, and lombopelvic pain (pp. 141–158). Paris: Churchill Livingston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lovejoy, C. O. (2007b). The natural history of human gait and posture III: Knee. Gait and Posture, 25, 325–341.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lovejoy, C. O. (2014). Ardipithecus and earliest human evolution in light of twenty-first century developmental biology. Journal of Anthropological Research, 70, 337–363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lovejoy, C. O., Cohn, M. J., & White, T. D. (1999). Morphological analysis of the mammalian postrcranium: A developmental perspective. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 96, 13247–13252.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lovejoy, C. O., Johanson, D. C., & Coppens, Y. (1982). Hominid upper limb bones recovered from the Hadar formation: 1974–1977 collections. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 57, 637–650.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lovejoy, C. O., & McCollum, M. (2010). Spinopelvic pathways to bipedality: Why no hominids ever relied on a bent-hip–bent-Knee gait. Philosopical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 365, 3289–3299.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lovejoy, C. O., Meindl, R. S., Ohman, J. C., Heiple, K. G., & White, T. D. (2002). The Maka femur and its bearing on the antiquity of human walking: Applying contemporary concepts of morphogenesis to the human fossil record. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 119, 97–133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lovejoy, C. O., Simpson, S. W., White, T. D., Asfaw, B., & Suwa, G. (2009a). Careful climbing in the Miocene: The forelimbs of Ardipithecus ramidus and humans are primitive. Science, 326, 70e71–70e78.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lovejoy, C. O., Suwa, G., Simpson, S. W., Matternes, J. H., & White, T. D. (2009b). The great divides: Ardipithecus ramidus reveals the postcrania of our last common ancestors with African apes. Science, 326, 100–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lovejoy, C. O., Suwa, G., Spurlock, L., Asfaw, B., & White, T. D. (2009c). The pelvis and femur of Ardipithecus ramidus: The emergence of upright walking. Science, 326, 71e71–71e76.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCollum, M. A., Rosenman, B. A., Suwa, G., Meindl, R. S., & Lovejoy, C. O. (2009). The vertebral formula of the last common ancestor of African apes and humans. Journal of Experimental Zoology (B) Molecular and Developmental Evolution, 314, 123–134.

    Google Scholar 

  • McHenry, H., & Corrucini, R. (1975). Distal humerus in hominoid evolution. Folia Primatologica, 23, 227–244.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reno, P. L., McCollum, M. A., Cohn, M. J., Meindl, R. S., Hamrick, M., & Lovejoy, C. O. (2008). Patterns of correlation and covariation of anthropoid distal forelimb segments correspond to Hoxd expression territories. Journal of Experimental Zoology (B) Molecular and Developmental Evolution, 310, 240–258.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenberg, K., & Trevathan, W. (2002). Birth, obstetrics, and human evolution. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 109, 1199–1206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rose, M. D. (1988). Another look at the anthropoid elbow. Journal of Human Evolution, 17, 193–224.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rose, M. D. (1993). Functional anatomy of the elbow and forearmin primates. In D. L. Gebo (Ed.), Postcranial adaptation innonhuman primates (pp. 70–95). DeKalb: Northern Illinois UniversityPress.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, T. M., & Sukhdeo, S. (2016). KSD-VP 1/1: Analysis of the postcranial skeleton using high-resolution computed tomography. In Y. Haile-Selassie & D. F. Su (Eds.), The Postcranial Anatomy of Australopithecus afarensis: New Insights from KSD-VP-1/1 (pp. 39–62). Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Selby, M. S., & Lovejoy, C. O. (2014). Hominoid humeral trochlear morphology is unrelated to suspensory locomotion.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simpson, S. W., Quade, J., Levin, N. E., Butler, R., Dupont-Nivet, G., Everett, M., et al. (2008). A female Homo erectus pelvis from Gona, Ethiopia. Science, 322, 1089–1092.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stern, J. T. (2000). Climbing to the top: A personal memoir of Australopithecus afarensis. Evolutionary Anthropology, 9, 113–133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stern, J. T., & Susman, R. L. (1983). The locomotor anatomy of Australopithecus afarensis. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 60, 279–317.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Uçar, B. Y., Uçar, D. E., Bulut, M., Azboy, I., & DemitraÅŸ, A. (2013). Lumbosacral transitional vertebrae in low back pain population. Spine, 2, 125–128.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ward, C. V. (1991). Functional anatomy of the lower back and pelvis of the Miocene hominoid Proconsul nyanze from Mfangano Island, Kenya. Ph. D. Dissertation, Johns Hopkins University.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, T. D., Asfaw, B., Beyene, Y., Haile-Selassie, Y., Lovejoy, C. O., Suwa, G., et al. (2009). Ardipithecus ramidus and the paleobiology of early hominids. Science, 326, 75–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, T. D., Lovejoy, C. O., Asfaw, B., Carlson, J., & Suwa, G. (2014). Neither Chimpanzee nor human: Ardipithecus reveals the surprising ancestry of both. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 112, 4877–4887.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, T. D., Suwa, G., Hart, W. K., Walter, R. C., WoldeGabriel, G., de Heinzelin, J., et al. (1993). New discoveries of Australopithecus at Maka in Ethiopia. Nature, 366, 261–265.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiltse, L. L. (1972). Valgus deformity of the ankle: A sequel to acquired or congenital abnormalities of the fibula. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (Am), 54, 595–606.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolpert, L., Beddington, R., Brockes, J., Jessell, T., Lawrence, P., & Meyerowitz, E. (1998). Principles of development. London: Current Biology Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

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

    C. Owen Lovejoy & Linda Spurlock

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

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

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

    Bruce M. Latimer

Authors
  1. C. Owen Lovejoy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Bruce M. Latimer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Linda Spurlock
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Yohannes Haile-Selassie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to C. Owen Lovejoy .

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

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Lovejoy, C.O., Latimer, B.M., Spurlock, L., Haile-Selassie, Y. (2016). The Pelvic Girdle and Limb Bones 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_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation