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Hominid species that lived 3.9 to 2.9 million years ago. Compared to modern apes, A. afarensis and A. africanus have much smaller molars and canines, but they are still larger than those of humans’. [7] The smaller molars have been attributed to consuming seeds. [8] The jaws of both A. afarensis and A. africanus are very much prognathic. [9]
A diastema (pl.: diastemata, from Greek διάστημα, 'space') is a space or gap between two teeth. Many species of mammals have diastemata as a normal feature, most commonly between the incisors and molars. More colloquially, the condition may be referred to as gap teeth or tooth gap.
Australopithecines have thirty-two teeth, like modern humans. Their molars were parallel, like those of great apes, and they had a slight pre-canine gap (diastema). Their canines were smaller, like modern humans, and with the teeth less interlocked than in previous hominins.
Post-canine megadontia is a relative enlargement of the molars and premolars compared to the size of the incisors and canines. This phenomenon is seen in some early hominid ancestors such as Paranthropus aethiopicus .
A fossil hominid exhibit at The Museum of Osteology, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Hominidae was originally the name given to the family of humans and their (extinct) close relatives, with the other great apes (that is, the orangutans, gorillas and chimpanzees) all being placed in a separate family, the Pongidae .
Like other early hominins, the cheek teeth were enlarged and had thick enamel. Male skulls may have been more robust than female skulls. Male skulls may have been more robust than female skulls. Males may have been on average 140 cm (4 ft 7 in) in height and 40 kg (88 lb) in weight, and females 125 cm (4 ft 1 in) and 30 kg (66 lb).
Broadly speaking, the emergence of the first permanent molar in early hominins has been variously estimated anywhere from 2.5 to 4.5 years, which all contrast markedly with the modern human average of 5.8 years. The 1st permanent molar of SK 63, which may have died at 3.4–3.7 years of age, possibly erupted at 2.9–3.2 years.
Another distinguishing characteristic is the diastema, a toothless region spanning the width of three teeth at the front of the maxilla, where the bone noticeably thinned and could not have borne tooth sockets. Behind the diastema were two precanine teeth, two large canine teeth, and at least fourteen post-canine teeth (eleven being preserved ...