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Taxonomic status of the hominid mandible KNM-ER TI 13150 from the middle pliocene of tabarin, in Kenya

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Abstract

A partial mandible with two molars intact was recovered between 1981 and 1984 from deposits of the Middle Pliocene at Tabarin, in Kenya. It has been described and assigned toAustralopithecus cf.afarensis Johanson, White, andCoppens, 1978, with the condition that if ‘A. afarensis’ is revised, then the attribution may change. The taxon ‘A. afarensis’ was found to be invalid and was revised. The smaller specimens of ‘A. afarensis,’ to which the Tabarin mandible was said to be similar, were redescribed asHomo antiquus Ferguson, 1984. Since the Tabarin mandible andH. antiquus are successive transients of the same gens and are allopatric, the Tabarin hominid population is described as an earlier chronosubspecies,Homo antiquus praegens ssp. n.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, 69 978, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Walter W. Ferguson

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  1. Walter W. Ferguson
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Ferguson, W.W. Taxonomic status of the hominid mandible KNM-ER TI 13150 from the middle pliocene of tabarin, in Kenya. Primates 30, 383–387 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02381261

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02381261

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