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''Paranthropus'' (from Greek παρα, ''para'' "beside"; άνθρωπος, ''ánthropos'' "human") is a genus of extinct hominins. Also known as robust australopithecines, they were bipedal hominids that probably descended from the gracile australopithecine hominids (''Australopithecus'') 2.7 million years ago. Members of this genus are characterised by robust craniodental anatomy, including gorilla-like sagittal cranial crests, which suggest strong muscles of mastication, and broad, grinding herbivorous teeth. However, ''Paranthropus'' skulls lack the transverse cranial crests that are also present in modern gorillas. == Discovery == A partial cranium and mandible of ''Paranthropus robustus'' was discovered in 1938 by a schoolboy, Gert Terblanche, at Kromdraai B (70 km south west of Pretoria) in South Africa. It was described as a new genus and species by Robert Broom of the Transvaal Museum. The site has been excavated since 1993 by Francis Thackeray of the Transvaal Museum. A date of at least 1.95 million years has been obtained for Kromdraai B. ''Paranthropus boisei'' was discovered by Mary Leakey on July 17, 1959, at the FLK Bed I site of Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania (specimen OH 5). Mary was working alone, as Louis Leakey was ill in camp. She rushed back to camp and, at the news, Louis made a remarkable recovery. They refrained from excavating until Des Bartlett had photographed the site. In his notes Louis recorded a first name, ''Titanohomo mirabilis'', reflecting an initial impression of close human affinity. Louis and Mary began to call it "Dear Boy". Recovery was halted on August 7. ''Dear Boy'' was found in context with Oldowan tools and animal bones. The fossil was published in ''Nature'' dated August 15, 1959, but due to a strike of the printers the issue was not released until September. In it Louis placed the fossil in Broom's Australopithecinae family, creating a new genus for it, ''Zinjanthropus'', species ''boisei''. "Zinj" is an ancient Arabic word for the coast of East Africa and "boisei" referred to Charles Boise, an anthropological benefactor of the Leakeys. Louis based his classification on twenty differences from ''Australopithecus''. Broom had died in 1951 but Dart was still living. He is said to have wept for joy on Louis' behalf on being personally shown Zinj, which Louis and Mary carried around in a tin (later a box). Louis had considered Broom's ''Paranthropus'' genus, but rejected it because he believed Zinj was in the ''Homo'' ancestral stock but ''Paranthropus'' was not. He relied heavily on the larger size of Zinj's canines. At that time palaeoanthropology was in an overall mood to lump and was preaching against splitting. Consequently, the presentation of Zinj during the Fourth Pan-African Congress of Prehistorians in July in the then Belgian Congo, at which Louis was forced to read the delayed ''Nature'' article, nearly came to grief for Louis over the creation of a new genus. Dart rescued him with the now famous joke, "... what would have happened if Mrs. Ples had met Dear Boy one dark night." The battle of the name raged on for many years and drove a wedge between Louis and Sir Wilfrid LeGros Clark, from 1955, who took the ''Paranthropus'' view. On the other hand, it brought the Leakeys and Dr. Melville Bell Grosvenor of the National Geographic Society together. The Leakeys became international figures and had no trouble finding funds from then on. The Zinj question ultimately became part of the ''Australopithecus''/''Paranthropus'' question (which only applied to the robust Australopithecines). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Paranthropus」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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