Early evolution of small body size in Homo floresiensis

Yousuke Kaifu (), Iwan Kurniawan (), Soichiro Mizushima, Junmei Sawada, Michael Lague, Ruly Setiawan, Indra Sutisna, Unggul P. Wibowo, Gen Suwa, Reiko T. Kono, Tomohiko Sasaki, Adam Brumm and Gerrit D. van den Bergh ()
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Yousuke Kaifu: The University of Tokyo
Iwan Kurniawan: Geological Agency
Soichiro Mizushima: St. Marianna University School of Medicine
Junmei Sawada: Niigata University of Health and Welfare
Michael Lague: Stockton University
Ruly Setiawan: Geological Agency
Indra Sutisna: Geological Agency
Unggul P. Wibowo: Geological Agency
Gen Suwa: The University of Tokyo
Reiko T. Kono: Keio University
Tomohiko Sasaki: Kyoto University
Adam Brumm: Griffith University
Gerrit D. van den Bergh: University of Wollongong

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract Recent discoveries of Homo floresiensis and H. luzonensis raise questions regarding how extreme body size reduction occurred in some extinct Homo species in insular environments. Previous investigations at Mata Menge, Flores Island, Indonesia, suggested that the early Middle Pleistocene ancestors of H. floresiensis had even smaller jaws and teeth. Here, we report additional hominin fossils from the same deposits at Mata Menge. An adult humerus is estimated to be 9 − 16% shorter and thinner than the type specimen of H. floresiensis dated to ~60,000 years ago, and is smaller than any other Plio-Pleistocene adult hominin humeri hitherto reported. The newly recovered teeth are both exceptionally small; one of them bears closer morphological similarities to early Javanese H. erectus. The H. floresiensis lineage most likely evolved from early Asian H. erectus and was a long-lasting lineage on Flores with markedly diminutive body size since at least ~700,000 years ago.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-50649-7

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