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15 | 15 | <jats:article-meta>
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16 | 16 |
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17 | 17 | <jats:title-group>
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18 |
| - <jats:article-title>Article 1</jats:article-title> |
| 18 | + |
| 19 | + <jats:article-title> |
| 20 | + <jats:italic>Homo naledi</jats:italic>, a new species of the genus |
| 21 | + <jats:italic>Homo</jats:italic> from the Dinaledi Chamber, South Africa |
| 22 | + </jats:article-title> |
| 23 | + |
19 | 24 | </jats:title-group>
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20 | 25 |
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21 | 26 | </jats:article-meta>
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22 | 27 |
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23 | 28 | </jats:front>
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24 | 29 |
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| 30 | + <jats:body> |
| 31 | + |
| 32 | + <jats:p>Fossil hominins were first recognized in the Dinaledi Chamber in the Rising Star cave system in |
| 33 | + October 2013. During a relatively short excavation, our team recovered an extensive collection of |
| 34 | + 1550 hominin specimens, representing nearly every element of the skeleton multiple times (Figure 1), |
| 35 | + including many complete elements and morphologically informative fragments, some in articulation, as |
| 36 | + well as smaller fragments many of which could be refit into more complete elements. The collection is |
| 37 | + a morphologically homogeneous sample that can be attributed to no previously-known hominin species. |
| 38 | + Here we describe this new species, <jats:italic>Homo naledi</jats:italic>. We have not defined |
| 39 | + <jats:italic>H. naledi</jats:italic> narrowly based on a single jaw or skull because the entire body |
| 40 | + of material has informed our understanding of its biology. |
| 41 | + </jats:p> |
| 42 | + |
| 43 | + <jats:p>Order Primates LINNAEUS 1758</jats:p> |
| 44 | + |
| 45 | + <jats:p>Suborder Anthropoidea MIVART 1864</jats:p> |
| 46 | + |
| 47 | + <jats:p>Superfamily Hominoidea GRAY 1825</jats:p> |
| 48 | + |
| 49 | + <jats:p>Family Hominidae GRAY 1825</jats:p> |
| 50 | + |
| 51 | + <jats:p>Tribe Hominini GRAY 1825</jats:p> |
| 52 | + |
| 53 | + <jats:p>Genus <jats:italic>Homo</jats:italic> LINNAEUS 1758</jats:p> |
| 54 | + |
| 55 | + <jats:p><jats:italic>Homo naledi</jats:italic> sp. nov. |
| 56 | + urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:00D1E81A-6E08-4A01-BD98-79A2CEAE2411 |
| 57 | + </jats:p> |
| 58 | + |
| 59 | + <jats:p>The word <jats:italic>naledi</jats:italic> means ‘star’ in the Sotho language and refers to the |
| 60 | + Dinaledi Chamber's location within the Rising Star cave system. |
| 61 | + </jats:p> |
| 62 | + |
| 63 | + <jats:p>The Dinaledi chamber is located approximately 30 meters underground, within the Rising Star cave |
| 64 | + system at about 26°1′13′′ S; 27°42′43′′ E. The system lies within the Malmani dolomites, approximately |
| 65 | + 800 meters southwest of the well-known site of Swartkrans in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage |
| 66 | + Site, Gauteng Province, South Africa. |
| 67 | + </jats:p> |
| 68 | + |
| 69 | + <jats:p>The present sample of skeletal material from the Dinaledi Chamber was recovered during two field |
| 70 | + expeditions, in November 2013 and March 2014. |
| 71 | + </jats:p> |
| 72 | + |
| 73 | + <jats:p>Six specimens from an ex situ context can be identified as bird bones, and few fragmentary rodent |
| 74 | + remains have been recovered within the excavation area. Neither of these faunal constituents can |
| 75 | + presently be associated with the hominin fossil collection (Dirks et al., 2015). |
| 76 | + </jats:p> |
| 77 | + |
| 78 | + <jats:p>Aside from these limited faunal materials, the Dinaledi collection is entirely composed of hominin |
| 79 | + skeletal and dental remains. The collection so far comprises 1550 fossil hominin specimens, this number |
| 80 | + includes 1413 bone specimens and 137 isolated dental specimens; an additional 53 teeth are present in |
| 81 | + mandibular or maxillary bone specimens. Aside from the fragmentary rodent teeth, all dental crowns (n = |
| 82 | + 179) are hominin, recovered both from surface collection and excavation. Likewise, aside from the few |
| 83 | + bird elements, all morphologically informative bone specimens are clearly hominin. In all cases where |
| 84 | + elements are repeated in the sample, they are morphologically homogeneous, with variation consistent |
| 85 | + with body size and sex differences within a single population. These remains represent a minimum of 15 |
| 86 | + hominin individuals, as indicated by the repetition and presence of deciduous and adult dental elements. |
| 87 | + </jats:p> |
| 88 | + |
| 89 | + <jats:p>The geological age of the fossils is not yet known. Excavations have thus far recovered hominin |
| 90 | + material from Unit 2 and Unit 3 in the chamber (Dirks et al., 2015). Surface-collected hominin material |
| 91 | + from the present top of Unit 3, which includes material derived from both Unit 2 and Unit 3, represents |
| 92 | + a minority of the assemblage, and is morphologically indistinguishable from material excavated from in |
| 93 | + situ within Unit 3. In addition to general morphological homogeneity including cranial shape, |
| 94 | + distinctive morphological configurations of all the recovered first metacarpals, femora, molars, lower |
| 95 | + premolars and lower canines, are identical in both surface-collected and excavated specimens (see Figure |
| 96 | + 14 later in the text). These include traits not found in any other hominin species yet described. These |
| 97 | + considerations strongly indicate that this material represents a single species, and not a commingled |
| 98 | + assemblage. |
| 99 | + </jats:p> |
| 100 | + |
| 101 | + </jats:body> |
| 102 | + |
25 | 103 | </jats:article>
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26 | 104 |
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27 | 105 | </item>
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