Morphological affinities of Homo naledi with other Plio-Pleistocene hominins: a phenetic approach

ABSTRACT Recent fossil material found in Dinaledi Chamber, South Africa, was initially described as a new species of genus Homo, namely Homo naledi. The original study of this new material has pointed to a close proximity with Homo erectus. More recent investigations have, to some extent, confirmed this assignment. Here we present a phenetic analysis based on dentocranial metric variables through Principal Components Analysis and Cluster Analysis based on these fossils and other Plio-Pleistocene hominins. Our results concur that the Dinaledi fossil hominins pertain to genus Homo. However, in our case, their nearest neighbors are Homo habilis and Australopithecus sediba. We suggest that Homo naledi is in fact a South African version of Homo habilis, and not a new species. This can also be applied to Australopithecus sediba.

摘要
近期在南非迪纳莱迪腔（Dinaledi Chamber）发现的化石标本，最初被归为人属（Homo）下的全新物种，即纳莱迪人（Homo naledi）。针对这批新标本的早期研究指出，其与直立人（Homo erectus）亲缘关系密切，后续多项研究亦在一定程度上佐证了这一种群归属判定。
本研究基于这批化石以及其他上新世-更新世（Plio-Pleistocene）古人类（hominins）的牙颅度量变量（dentocranial metric variables），开展表型分析（phenetic analysis），并运用主成分分析（Principal Components Analysis）与聚类分析（Cluster Analysis）进行实证研究。结果确认，迪纳莱迪化石古人类确属于人属。但本研究发现，其最近邻类群为能人（Homo habilis）与塞达巴南方古猿（Australopithecus sediba）。我们认为，纳莱迪人实际上是能人在南非的地理衍生类群，并非独立新物种；这一结论同样适用于塞达巴南方古猿。