Australopithecus boisei

Inventor(s): Leakey Family

Discoverer(s): Mary Leakey

Location: Olduvai (Kenya), Tanzania, Ethiopia = east Africa

Date of discovery: 1959

Date of Publication:

Other name(s): Paranthropus boisei, Zinjanthropus boisei

Date(s): 2.3 - 1.3 million years ago

Locomotion: assumed bipedalism

Height: Male=4.5 & Female=4.1

Weight: Male=75-88 pounds & Female=108-176

Brain size: 500-550cc

Cranial Features: 

• Saggital crest on the mid-brain case
• Low forehead
• Low vaulted brain case
• Tall and broad face
• Foramen magnum located more anteriorly
• Nuchal plane almost horizontal
• Decreased facial prognathism

Limbs:

• Longer arms than AMH
• Shorter legs than AMH

Pelvis:

• Short and broad illium
• Short ischial shafts
• Pelvis tends to be wide between hips

Dentition:

• Parabolic dental arcade
• Small incisors and canines
• Large grinding surfaces
• Overall very large teeth (megadontia; similar to Gorilla)

Diet: hard and tough fibrous vegetables and some meat

Locomotion: assumed or "primitive" bipedalism

COMMENTS

This fossil species is often described as "hyper-robust" due to heavy masticatory apparatus (megadontia=very large teeth, similar to Gorillas'). This would define this species as an adaptive to tough and/or low-quality food resources. In terms, this would suggest that this species was well adapted to a specific environment.

SPECIMENS

OH 3

OH 5 (cranium without mandible; "Zinjanthropus boisei"))

OH 38

KNM-ER 406

KNM-ER 729

KNM-ER 732

OMO L. 7a-125

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Clark, G. A.

1988 Some thoughts on the Black Skull: An archaeologist's assessment of WT-17000 (A. boisei) and systematics in human paleontology. American Anthropologist 90:357-371.

Leakey, L. S. B.

1959 A new fossil skull from Olduvai. Nature 184:491-493.

1960 Recent discoveries at Olduvai Gorge. Nature 188:1050-1052.

Leakey, R. E.

1970 New hominid remains and early artifacts from North Kenya. Nature 226:223-224.

1971 Further evidence of lower Pleistocene hominids from East Rudolf, North Kenya. Nature 231:241-245.

Rak, Y.

1978 The functional significance of the squasomal suture in Australopithecus boisei. American Journal of Phyical Anthropology 49:71-78.

1988 On variation in the masticatory system of Australopithecus boisei. In Evolutionary History of the "Robust" Australopithecine, edited by F. E. Grine, pp. 193-198. Aldine de Gruyter, New York.

Tobias, P.

1968 The Cranium and Maxillary Dentition of Australopithecus ("Zinjanthropus") boisei. Olduvai Gorge 2. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Walker, A., R. E. Leakey, J. M. Harris and F. H. Brown

1986 2.5-Myr Australopithecus boisei from west of Lake Turkana, Kenya. Nature 322:517-522.

Wood, B. A., C. Wood and L. Konigsbert

1994 Paranthropus boisei: An example of evolutionary stasis? American Journal of Phyical Anthropology 95(2):117-126.