Australopithecine

Classification of subtribe Australopithecina according to . • Australopithecina • Australopithecus • Australopithecus africanus • Australopithecus deyiremeda • Australopithecus garhi • Australopithecus sediba • Australopithecus afarensis (=Praeanthropus afarensis) • Australopithecus anamensis (=Praeanthropus anamensis) • Australopithecus bahrelghazali (=Praeanthropus bahrelghazali) • Paranthropus • Paranthropus robustus • Paranthropus boisei • Paranthropus aethiopicus • Ardipithecus • Ardipithecus ramidus • Ardipithecus kadabba • Orrorin • Orrorin tugenensis • Sahelanthropus • Sahelanthropus tchadensis Phylogeny Phylogeny of Hominina/Australopithecina according to Dembo et al. (2016). == Physical characteristics ==

The post-cranial remains of australopithecines show they were adapted to bipedal locomotion, but did not walk identically to humans. They had a forearm to upper arm ratio similar to the Golden Ratio – greater than other hominins. They exhibited greater sexual dimorphism than members of Homo or Pan but less so than Gorilla or Pongo. It is thought that they averaged heights of and weighed between . The brain size may have been 350 cc to 600 cc. The postcanines (the teeth behind the canines) were relatively large, and had more enamel compared to contemporary apes and humans, whereas the incisors and canines were relatively small, and there was little difference between the males' and females' canines compared to modern apes. ==Relation to Homo==

Most scientists maintain that the genus Homo emerged in Africa within the australopithecines around two million years ago. However, there is no consensus on within which species: Marc Verhaegen has argued that an australopithecine species could have also been ancestral to the genus Pan (i.e. chimpanzees). ==Asian australopithecines==

A minority view among palaeoanthropologists is that australopithecines moved outside Africa. One proponent of this theory is Jens Lorenz Franzen, formerly Head of Paleoanthropology at the Research Institute Senckenberg. Franzen argued that robust australopithecines had reached not only Indonesia, as Meganthropus, but also China: In 1957, an Early Pleistocene Chinese fossil tooth of unknown province was described as resembling P. robustus. Three fossilized molars from Jianshi, China (Longgudong Cave) were later identified as belonging to an Australopithecus species. However further examination questioned this interpretation; Zhang (1984) argued the Jianshi teeth and unidentified tooth belong to H. erectus. Liu et al. (2010) also dispute the Jianshi–australopithecine link and argue the Jianshi molars fall within the range of Homo erectus: However, Wolpoff (1999) notes that in China "persistent claims of australopithecine or australopithecine-like remains continue". ==Notes==