Re: The taxonomy of Sahelanthropus tchadensis from a craniometric perspective

On 4.8.2024. 10:38, Pandora wrote:

Op 04-08-2024 om 00:17 schreef JTEM:

  Pandora wrote:

It's a rather strange, counterintuitive, result that the cladistically most basal hominin, Sahelanthropus, is morphometrically closer to Homo than to Australopithecus and the great apes.

>
It's not a science it's an art, an interpretation. Value
judgments.
>
Secondly, and let's be honest here, the fossil record sucks.
>
No, it doesn't "have gaps," it is a gap. It's a chasm, a
massive expanse of nothingness punctuated by the all too
rare pieces of bone.
>
Sahelanthropus is found in the wrong place. There is only the
one individual represented. There is no basis for any
determinations what so ever.

 Actually, there's more than one individual of this taxon, from three different localities (TM 247, TM 266 and TM 292). This additional material was announced in Nature in 2005:
 https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/3716603
 Not too far from where another hominin taxon, Australopithecus bahrelghazali, was discovered in 1995.
 https://www.nature.com/articles/378273a0
 If you think that's the wrong place you must have some concept of what is the right place. Where would that be?

Actually, it isn't in the wrong place. Lake Megachad is at the end of Cameroon rift. This is very similar to lake Victoria and East-African rift.