The upper limb of Paranthropus boisei from Ileret, Kenya.

Paranthropus boisei was first described in 1959 based on fossils from the Olduvai Gorge and now includes many fossils from Ethiopia to Malawi. Knowledge about its postcranial anatomy has remained elusive because, until recently, no postcranial remains could be reliably attributed to this taxon. Here, we report the first associated hand and upper limb skeleton (KNM-ER 47000) of P. boisei from 1.51 to 1.53 Ma sediments at Ileret, Kenya. While the fossils show a combination of primitive and derived traits, the overall anatomy is characterized by primitive traits that resemble those found in Australopithecus, including an oblique scapular spine, relatively long and curved ulna, lack of third metacarpal styloid process, gracile thumb metacarpal, and curved manual phalanges. Very thick cortical bone throughout the upper limb shows that P. boisei had great upper limb strength, supporting hypotheses that this species spent time climbing trees, although probably to a lesser extent than earlier australopiths. Hand anatomy shows that P. boisei, like earlier australopiths, was capable of the manual dexterity needed to create and use stone tools, but lacked the robust thumb of Homo erectus, which arguably reflects adaptations to the intensification of precision grips and tool use. KNM-ER 47000 provides conclusive evidence that early Pleistocene hominins diverged in postcranial and craniodental anatomy, supporting hypotheses of competitive displacement among these contemporaneous hominins.

Lahar inundated, modified, and preserved 1.88 Ma early hominin (OH24 and OH56) Olduvai DK site.

Archaeological excavations at the DK site in the eastern Olduvai Basin, Tanzania, age-bracketed between ∼1.88 Ma (Bed I Basalt) and ∼1.85 Ma (Tuff IB), record the oldest lahar inundation, modification, and preservation of a hominin "occupation" site yet identified. Our landscape approach reconstructs environments and processes at high resolution to explain the distribution and final preservation of archaeological materials at the DK site, where an early hominin (likely Homo habilis) assemblage of stone tools and bones, found close to hominin specimens OH24 and OH56, developed on an uneven heterogeneous surface that was rapidly inundated by a lahar and buried to a depth of 0.4-1.2 m (originally ∼1.0-2.4 m pre-compaction). The incoming intermediate to high viscosity mudflow selectively modified the original accumulation of "occupation debris," so that it is no longer confined to the original surface. A dispersive debris "halo" was identified within the lahar deposit: debris is densest immediately above the site, but tails off until not present >150 m laterally. Voorhies indices and metrics derived from limb bones are used to define this dispersive halo spatially and might indicate a possible second assemblage to the east that is now eroded away. Based upon our new data and prior descriptions, two possibilities for the OH24 skull are suggested: it was either entrained by the mudflow from the DK surface and floated due to lower density toward its top, or it was deposited upon the solid top surface after its consolidation. Matrix adhering to material found in association with the parietals indicates that OH56 at least was relocated by the mudflow.

Jurassic-Early Cretaceous Gondwanan homoxylous woods: a nomenclatural revision of the genera with taxonomic notes.

The homoxylous fossil woods occurring in the Gondwanan continents of South America, Australia, Africa, India and Antarctica during the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous period are considered here. Original descriptions of the genera and wherever possible, the type material, have been consulted. Applying the rules of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, the generic names of the homoxylous woods have been revised from a nomenclatural point of view. According to this review, out of 31 generic names used for woods from the given time interval and area, 6 are illegitimate later nomenclatural synonyms, 1 is a later homonym, and 5 can be considered as taxonomical synonyms. Moreover, 9 genera have been used erroneously. We propose one new generic name (Protaxodioxylon n. gen.) and elsewhere we will propose for conservation, with a conserved type one of the illegitimate names and one of the taxonomic synonyms. As a result, we consider that there are only eighteen generic names correctly quoted for the Jurassic-Early Cretaceous of Gondwana, and we provide a taxonomic key for the corresponding genera. This revision is the first step in systematically comparing northern and southern hemisphere woods.