Homo naledi, a new species of the genus Homo from the Dinaledi Chamber, South Africa

  1. Lee R Berger  Is a corresponding author
  2. John Hawks
  3. Darryl J de Ruiter
  4. Steven E Churchill
  5. Peter Schmid
  6. Lucas K Delezene
  7. Tracy L Kivell
  8. Heather M Garvin
  9. Scott A Williams
  10. Jeremy M DeSilva
  11. Matthew M Skinner
  12. Charles M Musiba
  13. Noel Cameron
  14. Trenton W Holliday
  15. William Harcourt-Smith
  16. Rebecca R Ackermann
  17. Markus Bastir
  18. Barry Bogin
  19. Debra Bolter
  20. Juliet Brophy
  21. Zachary D Cofran
  22. Kimberly A Congdon
  23. Andrew S Deane
  24. Mana Dembo
  25. Michelle Drapeau
  26. Marina C Elliott
  27. Elen M Feuerriegel
  28. Daniel Garcia-Martinez
  29. David J Green
  30. Alia Gurtov
  31. Joel D Irish
  32. Ashley Kruger
  33. Myra F Laird
  34. Damiano Marchi
  35. Marc R Meyer
  36. Shahed Nalla
  37. Enquye W Negash
  38. Caley M Orr
  39. Davorka Radovcic
  40. Lauren Schroeder
  41. Jill E Scott
  42. Zachary Throckmorton
  43. Matthew W Tocheri
  44. Caroline VanSickle
  45. Christopher S Walker
  46. Pianpian Wei
  47. Bernhard Zipfel
  1. University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
  2. University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States
  3. Texas A&M University, United States
  4. Duke University, United States
  5. University of Zurich, Switzerland
  6. University of Arkansas, United States
  7. University of Kent, United Kingdom
  8. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany
  9. Mercyhurst University, United States
  10. New York University, United States
  11. New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, United States
  12. Dartmouth College, United States
  13. University of Colorado Denver, United States
  14. Loughborough University, United Kingdom
  15. Tulane University, United States
  16. Lehman College, United States
  17. American Museum of Natural History, United States
  18. University of Cape Town, South Africa
  19. Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Spain
  20. Modesto Junior College, United States
  21. Louisiana State University, United States
  22. Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan
  23. University of Missouri, United States
  24. University of Kentucky College of Medicine, United States
  25. Simon Fraser University, Canada
  26. Université de Montréal, Canada
  27. Australian National University, Australia
  28. Biology Department, Universidad Autònoma de Madrid, Spain
  29. Midwestern University, United States
  30. Liverpool John Moores University, United Kingdom
  31. University of Pisa, Italy
  32. Chaffey College, United States
  33. University of Johannesburg, South Africa
  34. George Washington University, United States
  35. University of Colorado School of Medicine, United States
  36. Croatian Natural History Museum, Croatia
  37. University of Iowa, United States
  38. Lincoln Memorial University, United States
  39. Smithsonian Institution, United States
  40. Department of Anthropology, Lakehead University, Canada
  41. Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, China

Decision letter

  1. Johannes Krause
    Reviewing Editor; University of Tübingen, Germany
  2. Nicholas J Conard
    Senior and Reviewing Editor; University of Tübingen, Germany

eLife posts the editorial decision letter and author response on a selection of the published articles (subject to the approval of the authors). An edited version of the letter sent to the authors after peer review is shown, indicating the substantive concerns or comments; minor concerns are not usually shown. Reviewers have the opportunity to discuss the decision before the letter is sent (see review process). Similarly, the author response typically shows only responses to the major concerns raised by the reviewers.

Thank you for submitting your work entitled “A new species of the genus Homo from the Dinaledi Chamber, South Africa” for peer review at eLife. Your submission has been favorably evaluated by Ian Baldwin (Senior editor), two guest Reviewing editors (Johannes Krause and Nicholas Conard), and two peer reviewers. One of the two peer reviewers, Chris Stringer, has agreed to share his identity, and Johannes Krause has drafted this decision to help you prepare a revised submission.

The authors describe a large collection of recently discovered hominin fossils from the Dinaledi Chamber in the Rising Star cave system in South Africa. Based on their initial assessment they argue that the fossil remains derive from a single homogenous hominin group and present a new taxon that they call Homo naledi.

Given the importance and sheer number of hominin remains, the fossils from the Dinaledi cave should be described and published imminently. This will allow direct assess to the material to other researchers where appropriate. Besides a general agreement among the reviewers for publication, they ask for several essential revisions.

1) The reviewers are surprised to not see an in-depth comparison of H. naledi to H. floresiensis, especially where combinations of small teeth and small brains are concerned. It should be easy, e.g., to add the published H. floresiensis measurements to Figure 7. The authors allude to material attributed to ‘Homo gautengensis’ and perhaps a short discussion or reiteration of their views about the validity of that species is needed.

2) The reviewers would ask the authors to remove superfluous text and concentrate on the main finding and description. This includes the first and last paragraphs. (“Our view of human evolution ... ancient hominins.”) (“Decades of work remain to expand the window into our origins...”) Both do not add any essential information to the manuscript.

3) The statement that “At this time, this evidence does not permit us to resolve the relationships between H. naledi and these other species” is rather confusing. Certainly more remains or a direct date would not change that situation; instead in depth morphometric or cladistics analysis are needed to conclude whether the Dinaledi remains indeed represent a new hominin taxon.

4) The authors should add a summary table of traits, perhaps adapted from the one they previously used for cladistic assessment.

In addition, please note that Chris Stringer has provided an annotated PDF with minor comments for your consideration.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.09560.030

Author response

1) The reviewers are surprised to not see an in-depth comparison of H. naledi to H. floresiensis, especially where combinations of small teeth and small brains are concerned. It should be easy, e.g., to add the published H. floresiensis measurements to Figure 7. The authors allude to material attributed to ‘Homo gautengensis’ and perhaps a short discussion or reiteration of their views about the validity of that species is needed.

We have added H. floresiensis to the differential diagnosis, including relevant aspects of cranial, dental, hand, lower limb and foot anatomy. We have also added H. floresiensis to both relevant figures (Figure 5 and Figure 7). We have also made a short comment on the validity of H. gautengensis in the Materials and methods.

2) The reviewers would ask the authors to remove superfluous text and concentrate on the main finding and description. This includes the first and last paragraphs. (“Our view of human evolution ... ancient hominins.”) (“Decades of work remain to expand the window into our origins...”) Both do not add any essential information to the manuscript.

We have removed both initial and final paragraphs in their entirety as suggested, and have slightly altered the remaining (second and penultimate) paragraphs to introduce and conclude the paper.

3) The statement that “At this time, this evidence does not permit us to resolve the relationships between H. naledi and these other species” is rather confusing. Certainly more remains or a direct date would not change that situation; instead in depth morphometric or cladistics analysis are needed to conclude whether the Dinaledi remains indeed represent a new hominin taxon.

We have altered this aspect of the Discussion in order to clarify what we can say about the phylogenetic placement of H. naledi. This includes a timely reference to a new paper on the phylogeny of hominins, which allows us to contextualize the difficulty placing the species considering the mosaic of similarities and differences from known hominins.

4) The authors should add a summary table of traits, perhaps adapted from the one they previously used for cladistic assessment.

This summary table is now added as Table 2; the remaining tables have been renumbered accordingly.

In addition, please note that Chris Stringer has provided an annotated PDF with minor comments for your consideration.

We have taken on board all of Chris Stringer’s helpful comments and editorial suggestions, and included these additions and corrections in the manuscript. We did not make changes to the following two suggestions/questions for the following reasons:

Any comment possible on frontal sinus morphologies?”

None are adequately preserved for us to be confident in making descriptive comments at this time.

Anything to say on middle or inner ear morphology?”

We are not in a position to comment on inner ear morphology as this is a more detailed and long-term study for which significant comparative material must be assembled.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.09560.031

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  1. Lee R Berger
  2. John Hawks
  3. Darryl J de Ruiter
  4. Steven E Churchill
  5. Peter Schmid
  6. Lucas K Delezene
  7. Tracy L Kivell
  8. Heather M Garvin
  9. Scott A Williams
  10. Jeremy M DeSilva
  11. Matthew M Skinner
  12. Charles M Musiba
  13. Noel Cameron
  14. Trenton W Holliday
  15. William Harcourt-Smith
  16. Rebecca R Ackermann
  17. Markus Bastir
  18. Barry Bogin
  19. Debra Bolter
  20. Juliet Brophy
  21. Zachary D Cofran
  22. Kimberly A Congdon
  23. Andrew S Deane
  24. Mana Dembo
  25. Michelle Drapeau
  26. Marina C Elliott
  27. Elen M Feuerriegel
  28. Daniel Garcia-Martinez
  29. David J Green
  30. Alia Gurtov
  31. Joel D Irish
  32. Ashley Kruger
  33. Myra F Laird
  34. Damiano Marchi
  35. Marc R Meyer
  36. Shahed Nalla
  37. Enquye W Negash
  38. Caley M Orr
  39. Davorka Radovcic
  40. Lauren Schroeder
  41. Jill E Scott
  42. Zachary Throckmorton
  43. Matthew W Tocheri
  44. Caroline VanSickle
  45. Christopher S Walker
  46. Pianpian Wei
  47. Bernhard Zipfel
(2015)
Homo naledi, a new species of the genus Homo from the Dinaledi Chamber, South Africa
eLife 4:e09560.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.09560

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https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.09560