Early evolution of small body size in Homo floresiensis

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-50649-7.pdf
Early evolution of small body size in Homo floresiensis
06 August 2024
Abstract
Recent discoveries of Homo floresiensis and
H. luzonensis raise questions regarding how
extreme body size reduction occurred in some
extinct Homo species in insular environments.
Previous investigations at Mata Menge, Flores
Island, Indonesia, suggested that the early
Middle Pleistocene ancestors of H. floresiensis
had even smaller jaws and teeth. Here, we
report additional hominin fossils from the same
deposits at Mata Menge. An adult humerus is
estimated to be 9 − 16% shorter and thinner
than the type specimen of H. floresiensis dated
to ~60,000 years ago, and is smaller than any
other PlioPleistocene adult hominin humeri
hitherto reported. The newly recovered teeth
are both exceptionally small; one of them bears
closer morphological similarities to early
Javanese H. erectus. The H. floresiensis lineage
most likely evolved from early Asian H. erectus
and was a long-lasting lineage on Flores with
markedly diminutive body size since at least
~700,000 years ago.