Fossil primate research at the 81st Annual Meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology

Abstract

During the first five days of November 2021, the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology convened its 81st annual meeting ... not in Minneapolis, Minnesota, but on nearly 2000 personal and work computers spread around the globe. The Covid pandemic continues to impede many academic pursuits, and the virtual setting of this year's conference was simultaneously a refreshing opportunity to witness the scope and scale of cutting-edge vertebrate paleontology research that has persisted in spite of it, and another reminder of the limitations that still inhibit our traditional gatherings. The conference presentations covered numerous aspects of vertebrate evolution, with many that specifically addressed primate evolution or provided valuable context to interpretation of the primate fossil record. Presentations on primate fossils were not limited to early primates, but made valuable contributions to hominoid and hominin evolution as well. A highlight of the meeting was the opening public lecture by Yohannes Haile-Selassie (Arizona State University) that described his fieldwork and major mid-Pliocene hominin finds from the western Afar Rift. His talk, framed around the early evolution of Australopithecus, can still be viewed on the Society website (https:// vertpaleo.org/svp-public-lecture/). Over 15 years of fieldwork at Woranso-Mille has produced 110 vertebrate localities and >200 hominin fossils, including previously unrepresented skeletal elements of Australopithecus afarensis and the currently unassigned, bipedally adapted Burtele foot. Of particular interest and importance are the remains of Australopithecus deyiremeda, which alongside Kenyathropus platyops and revelatory new cranial fossils of Australopithecus anamensis demonstrating its contemporaneity with A. afarensis, show that the mid-Pliocene was a time of high hominin alpha diversity. These finds significantly contribute to understanding hominin evolution, both by showing that the older model of an anagenetic “trunk” leading to branching of the hominin tree in the late Pliocene is false, and by proving that there are still major hominin fossil finds waiting to be uncovered—even in heavily prospected areas such as the Afar Rift.