Hominoid dental variability and species number at the late Miocene site of Lufeng, China.

Abstract

The large hominoid sample from the late Miocene site of Lufeng, China, has been variously claimed to contain either one or two species, but very few metric data in support of either position have been published. We calculate coefficients of variation for the dental remains both for the two presumed species and for the pooled sample as a whole using the summary statistics published by Wu & Oxnard (Wu & Oxnard: American Journal of Primatology 5:303-344, 1983a, Nature 306:258-260, 1983b). These are compared to the same measures of single-sex and combined-sex samples of extant hominoids. We also present metric characterizations of male and female canines of extant great apes, with which we evaluate the gender composition of the Lufeng canine sample. In a two-species alternative, the two presumed species have measures of variability and canine representation that are more compatible with single-sex samples representing males and females, respectively. The pooled dental sample has measures of variability within the ranges of single species of extant great apes. We conclude there is a single large hominoid species represented at Lufeng that is highly sexually dimorphic. The phylogenetic relationships of this species are briefly considered. It is generally primitive in craniodental morhpology and is unlikely to be a member of the Sivapithecus-Pongo clade.