Paranthropus aethiopicus-the ancestor of boisei and robustus?
obtained from: https://culturealhuman.wordpress.com
-As previously mentioned, P.aethiopicus is believed to be the predecessor of boisei and robust us. I agree with this claim because there are so many similarities between the three species. Since aethiopicus came first, it was clearly the ancestor to the other two species. These three can be lined together through basic traits, such as bipedalism. The things that really link the species together for me is the cranial features. All of these species have sagittal crest to connect to large chewing muscles, and big molars for chewing. These are traits that separate the paranthropus genus from australopithicus. All of the robust australopithecines also have 'dish shaped faces'. I believe that paranthropus and australopithecus branched off from a common ancestor into these two unique genera, which ultimately led gracile australopithecines to become the ancestors of homo sapiens. I do not believe that any of the robust australopithecines led to humans. However, this is a hotly debated topic, so the only way to know for sure is to find more fossils and continue research.
