AUSTRALOPITHE CINE S — ROBINSON 



485 



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Figure 3. — Size comparison of some mandibular teeth in five hominids. par, Paranthropus; 

 aus, Australopithecus; sin, Pekin man; aus ab, Australian aborigine; and esk, Eskimo 

 (East Greenland). This demonstrates very clearly the aberrant nature of the Paran- 

 thropus dentition in which a marked change in proportion between the anterior and post- 

 canine teeth occurs between the canine and P3. 



the living pongids. This is precisely the sort of difference that modern 

 mammalian systematists regard as excellent grounds for generic sepa- 

 ration. It is interesting to note that good evidence exists indicating 

 that the vegetarian Parantliro'pus was present in the Sterkfontein 

 Valley in times when the climate was apparently significantly wetter 

 than when the more carnivorous Australopithecus lived there. 



In 1959 Leakey found a line australopithecine skull in Bed I at 

 Olduvai, Tanganyika, and gave it the new generic name "Zinjanthro- 

 pus" (Leakey, 1959). He regarded it as being more advanced than 

 either of the australopithecines already dealt with. However, it is 

 very clear that while some differences may be found between it and 

 Parantliro'pus from South Africa, the pattern of structure and func- 

 tion already described for the latter is very clearly developed. The 

 same sort of modification of the skull architecture as a consequence of 

 a specialized vegetarian diet is very obvious. No valid grounds appear 

 to exist for regarding this form as anything other than a typical 

 Paranthropus (Robinson, 1960). 



Some mandibular fragments from Sangiran in Java, which have 

 been called "Meganthropus" and regarded as members of the "Pithe- 

 canthropus" group (e.g., Le Gros Clark, 1955), seem to me manifestly 

 to belong also to the genus Paranthropus (Robinson, 1953, 1955, and 

 1961). They agree very closely with the equivalent parts of Paran- 



