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Science 9 April 1999:
Vol. 284. no. 5412, pp. 230 - 231
DOI: 10.1126/science.284.5412.230b
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News of the Week

HUMAN EVOLUTION:
Forming the Robust Australopithecine Face

Virginia Morell

On the basis of their many facial similarities, recent analyses have concluded that the three species of robust australopithecines that roamed the savannas of Africa some 2 million years ago form their own small hominid family. Now on page 301, an anatomist offers a new explanation for why these hominids look the way they do--and suggests that they may not be so closely related after all. She argues that the shared facial traits are the developmental consequences of a single character--a unique combination of cow-sized molars and small front teeth.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)