Swartkrans Paranthropus and Sterkfontein Australopithecus from southern Africa had different locomotor repertoires

Cazenave, Marine, Pietrobelli, Annalisa, Lukova, Andrea, Bachmann, Sebastian, Caruana, Mathew V., Clarke, Ronald J., Dunmore, Christopher J., Hammond, Ashely S., Heaton, Jason L., Heile, A.J., and others. (2026) Swartkrans Paranthropus and Sterkfontein Australopithecus from southern Africa had different locomotor repertoires. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 123 (20). Article Number e2532193123. ISSN 0027-8424. (doi:10.1073/pnas.2532193123) (KAR id:114784)

PDF Publisher pdf Language: English This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Download this file (PDF/7MB)	Preview
Request a format suitable for use with assistive technology e.g. a screenreader
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2532193123

Abstract

Southern African hominin fossils traditionally attributed to Paranthropus robustus and Australopithecus africanus are differentiated from each other by their dentition and cranial architecture, but their postcranial anatomy has typically been regarded functionally as broadly similar (i.e., terrestrial bipedalism with some degree of arboreal locomotion). Testing the hypothesis of a similar locomotor repertoire between these two taxa has been complicated by a lack of postcranial fossils attributable to P. robustus. Here, we detail our comparative examination of the internal bone anatomy of a recently described c. 1.8 Ma P. robustus articulating femur and tibia, which suggests distinct patterns of joint loading and locomotor behavior. Our analysis of cortical bone in the hip and trabecular bone in the ankle, knee, and hip joints suggests that P. robustus habitually adopted a high frequency of ankle, knee, and hip flexion, as required for climbing, while Australopithecus from a c. 3.4 Ma level at the site of Sterkfontein displays a more modern human-like structural pattern across the lower limb joints consistent with comparatively more frequent terrestrial bipedalism. These results reveal that geologically younger P. robustus likely used arboreality more frequently than older Sterkfontein Australopithecus. Together with differences in masticatory behavior, this line of evidence indicates that these two hominin taxa occupied distinct ecological niches.

Item Type:	Article
DOI/Identification number:	10.1073/pnas.2532193123
Institutional Unit:	Schools > School of Natural Sciences > Biosciences
Former Institutional Unit:	There are no former institutional units.
Funders:	Conseil européen de la recherche (https://ror.org/0472cxd90) Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (https://ror.org/02a33b393)
Depositing User:	Chris Dunmore
Date Deposited:	12 May 2026 08:48 UTC
Last Modified:	13 May 2026 15:35 UTC
Resource URI:	https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/114784 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Dunmore, Christopher J..

Creator's ORCID:	https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8634-9777
CReDIT Contributor Roles:

Depositors only (login required):

Altmetric

Total Views

Total unique views of this page since July 2020. For more details click on the image.