Palaeoanthropology: Homo floresiensis from head to toe.

Lieberman, Daniel E.

The article discusses the 2004 discovery of a species of dwarfed hominin known as Homo floresiensis on the island of Flores in Indonesia. The fossils, including a partial skeleton, were excavated from a single cave on the island. The people stood roughly one metre tall and had a brain the size of that possessed by a chimpanzee. Some paleontologists posited that the species may have derived from Homo erectus via a process known as insular dwarfism. The anatomy of the hominin's foot has proved successful in dispelling critics who doubt the fossils' authenticity. To understand the process of insular dwarfism, hippopotamus fossils from Madagascar were evaluated.

FLORES Island (Indonesia); INDONESIA; FOSSIL hominids; SKELETON; BRAIN physiology; PALEONTOLOGY; HOMO erectus; DWARFISM; FOOT anatomy; FOSSIL hippopotamus (Genus)

Nature, 2009, Vol 459, Issue 7243, p41

0028-0836

Academic Journal

10.1038/459041a