![]() Not long after the discovery of Paranthropus robustus at Swartkrans, evidence of a similar megadont hominin was discovered by Louis Leakey in East Africa. Together, these new fossils provided tangible evidence that humans evolved just like every other species on earth, and that at least part of this evolution occurred in South Africa. africanus cranium from Taung, South Africa was more closely related to humans than to other living apes 6. This specimen's discovery came at an important time, for along with the Sterkfontein fossils it lent much needed support to Raymond Dart's then-controversial claim that his juvenile A. The Kromdraai remains were assembled to form most of a single, presumably male, cranium, which became the type specimen of Paranthropus robustus Broom, 1938. The fossils were discovered by a schoolboy in Kromdraai Cave, just a couple miles upstream from the Sterkfontein site where Broom had recently uncovered additional hominin fossils (which would ultimately be attributed to Australopithecus africanus) (Fig. The first fossils attributed to the genus Paranthropus were announced in a 1938 Nature paper by Robert Broom, who was then working for the Transvaal Museum (now the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History) in Pretoria, South Africa 5. Taken together, these traits suggest an animal that could both generate and dissipate high bite forces, and they imply that at least some portion of the Paranthropus diet was particularly difficult to break down 1-4. Other notable features include zygomatic (cheek) bones that were extended both laterally and anteriorly, a face that was more orthognathic (i.e., pulled back towards the rest of the skull) than in other australopiths, and the occasional presence of bony crests on the top and back of the skull, presumably for the attachment of large jaw muscles. The most notable of these features are large, thickly enameled, postcanine teeth that were supported by deep and broad mandibular corpora with tall and broad rami (Fig. ![]() They are characterized by several features of the skull that give them a "robust" appearance when compared to other, more gracile hominins. ![]() They are referred to here as members of the genus Paranthropus, though considerable disagreement about their proper taxonomy persists (see below). Introduction: Who are the "Robust" Australopiths?The "robust" australopiths are a group of fossil hominins that existed in East and southern Africa between approximately 2.5 and 1.4 million years ago (Ma).
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