Abstract
Abstract It has been suggested that the trend towards hypermasticatory features in the dentition and cranium of the robust australopithecines of the genus Paranthropus stems from an increased consumption of tough food items. To test this suggestion we establish the likely role of climatic change in provoking such a dietary specialisation and then search for evidence of parallel changes in other terrestrial mammal groups. Congruent patterns of lineage turnover within and between clades, together with intraspecific changes in dental morphometrics, support the interpretation of the development of savanna environments in response to colder and more arid conditions across the larger mammal fauna of eastern and southern Africa. The hypermasticatory development of Paranthropus was simply one facet of that response.
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