The field of phenomics is experiencing unprecedented advances thanks to the rapid growth of morphological quantification based on three-dimensional (3D) imaging, online data repositories, team-oriented collaborations, and open data-sharing policies. In line with these progressions, we present an extensive primate phenotypic dataset comprising >6,000 3D scans (media) representing skeletal morphologies of 386 individual specimens covering all hominoid genera (except humans) and other selected primates. The digitized specimens are housed in physical collections at the American Museum of Natural History, the National Museum of Natural History, the Royal Museum for Central Africa (Belgium), the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and Stony Brook University. Our technical validation indicates that despite the diverse digitizing devices used to produce the scans, the final 3D models (meshes) can be safely combined to collect comparable morphometric data. The entire dataset (and detailed associated metadata) is freely available through MorphoSource. Hence, these data contribute to empowering the future of primate phenomics and providing a roadmap for future digitization and archiving of digital data from other collections.

Theropithecus oswaldi darti, as currently understood, is the oldest Theropithecus taxon in the fossil record and the earliest subspecies in the Theropithecusoswaldi lineage. Theropithecus oswaldi darti is typified at the site of Makapansgat in South Africa, and a similar form (T. o. cf. darti) is usually recognized at Hadar, Dikika, some Middle Awash localities, and Woranso-Mille in Ethiopia. This taxon is also tentatively believed to occur in Kenya at Kanam and Koobi Fora and in Member C of the Shungura Formation in Ethiopia. While there is a general consensus that the East African 'darti' specimens are sufficiently similar to each other, there has always been a question of whether they are too distinct from the South African type material of T. o. darti to belong to the same subspecies. Here we conduct a morphological comparison of the different samples previously assigned to T. o. darti and T. o. cf. darti. The results of our analyses overwhelmingly support the hypothesis that the East African samples are distinct from the South African ones, and they are likely distinct in geological age as well. Therefore, we propose a new subspecies designation for the material previously termed T. o. cf. darti from East Africa: Theropithecus (Theropithecus) oswaldi ecki subsp. nov. We also formally recognize Theropithecus (Theropithecus) oswaldi serengetensis (Dietrich, 1942) for specimens from Laetoli, Woranso-Mille, and perhaps Galili.

AbstractNOW (New and Old Worlds) is a global database of fossil mammal occurrences, currently containing around 68,000 locality-species entries. The database spans the last 66 million years, with its primary focus on the last 23 million years. Whereas the database contains records from all continents, the main focus and coverage of the database historically has been on Eurasia. The database includes primarily, but not exclusively, terrestrial mammals. It covers a large part of the currently known mammalian fossil record, focusing on classical and actively researched fossil localities. The database is managed in collaboration with an international advisory board of experts. Rather than a static archive, it emphasizes the continuous integration of new knowledge of the community, data curation, and consistency of scientific interpretations. The database records species occurrences at localities worldwide, as well as ecological characteristics of fossil species, geological contexts of localities and more. The NOW database is primarily used for two purposes: (1) queries about occurrences of particular taxa, their characteristics and properties of localities in the spirit of an encyclopedia; and (2) large scale research and quantitative analyses of evolutionary processes, patterns, reconstructing past environments, as well as interpreting evolutionary contexts. The data are fully open, no logging in or community membership is necessary for using the data for any purpose.

Roksandic et al. (2022) proposed the new species name Homo bodoensis as a replacement name for Homo rhodesiensis Woodward, 1921, because they felt it was poorly and variably defined and was linked to sociopolitical baggage. However, the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature includes regulations on how and when such name changes are allowed, and Roksandic et al.'s arguments meet none of these requirements. It is not permitted to change a name solely because of variable (or erroneous) later use once it has been originally defined correctly, nor can a name be modified because it is offensive to one or more authors or to be politically expedient. We discuss past usage of H. rhodesiensis and the relevant nomenclatural procedures, the proposed evolutionary position of H. bodoensis, and issues raised about decolonizing paleoanthropology. We reject H. bodoensis as a junior synonym, with no value from its inception.

Open data sharing democratizes science by making data more equitably available throughout the world. Furthermore, open data sharing improves the reproducibility and quality of research and enables new collaborations powered by the freely available data. Open data are defined as data that can be freely used, reused, and redistributed by anyone. For an interdisciplinary field like biological anthropology, data sharing is critical since one person cannot easily collect data across the domains relevant to our field. The goal of this paper is to encourage broader data sharing in our discipline by exploring the state of data sharing in the field of biological anthropology. Our paper is divided into four parts: the first section describes the benefits, challenges, and emerging solutions to open data sharing; the second section presents the results of our data archiving and sharing survey that was completed by over 700 researchers; the third section presents personal experiences of data sharing by the authors; and the fourth section discusses the strengths of different types of data repositories and provides a list of recommended data repositories.

Delson et al. (2021) proposed to conserve Simopithecus oswaldi Andrews, 1916 (currently Theropithecus oswaldi) by reversal of precedence with Cynocephalus atlanticus Thomas, 1884 (currently Theropithecus atlanticus), on the basis that the latter name has been used only about 12 times since Alemseged & Geraads (1998) suggested that it be employed as a distinct species for North African fossils, while the former name is in widespread usage. Theropithecus oswaldi has been discussed in over 75 publications since 1998 and is the name assigned to most Pliocene and Pleistocene fossil samples, often with subdivision into chrono-geographic subspecies across Africa and into Eurasia. If these two species were considered synonymous, leading to Theropithecus atlanticus becoming the senior synonym for these many fossil samples and subspecies, prevailing usage would be upset. Moreover, there is no consensus about this synonymy, so that authors might Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 79 (15 October 2022) ISSN 2057-0570 (online)

The purpose of this application, under Articles 23.9.3 and 81.1 of the Code, is to conserve the usage of the species-group name Simopithecus oswaldi Andrews, 1916 by giving it precedence over its senior subjective synonym Cynocephalus atlanticus Thomas, 1884. Theropithecus is a common to dominant member of the extinct primate community across Africa after 4 million years ago (Jablonski & Frost, 2010) and often co-occurred with extinct humans (Hominini); fossils are also known rarely across Eurasia (Roberts et al., 2014). Most fossil samples are currently included in Theropithecus oswaldi (Andrews, 1916), which is often divided into chrono-geographic subspecies. Cynocephalus atlanticus Thomas, 1884 was not recognized as a member of Theropithecus until 1973, and this nomen has seldom been used, but if it were shown (as seems likely) to be conspecific with Simopithecus oswaldi Andrews, 1916, widespread paleontological usage would be upset. It is thus proposed to give conditional precedence to the later name, which would still permit the use of Theropithecus atlanticus as a distinct species or subspecies of Theropithecus oswaldi. Lectotypes are designated for Simopithecus oswaldi olduvaiensis Leakey & Whitworth, 1958 and Simopithecus oswaldi hopefieldensis Singer, 1962.

This work has been funded by Palarq Foundation, Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sport (42-T002018042853 and 170-T002019038589), Direction of Cultural Heritage (Ministry of Culture and Communication, Morocco), Faculty of Sciences (Mohamed 1r University of Oujda, Morocco), INSAP (Institut National des Sciences de l’Archeologie et du Patrimoine), Agencia Estatal de Investigacion (Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities: CGL2016-76431-P, CGL2016-80975-P, CGL2016-80000-P, CGL2017-82654-P, PGC2018-095489-B-I00, and PGC2018-093925-B-C31, AEI/FEDER-UE), and Research Group Support of the Generalitat de Catalunya (2017 SGR 116, 2017 SGR836, and 2017 SGR 859). The research by D.M.A., R.S-R, M.G.C., P.S., C.L., and E.D. is funded by CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya. A.M.A and M.F. are beneficiaries of a fellowship from the Erasmus Mundus Program to do the Master in Quaternary and Prehistory at the Universitat Rovia i Virgili (Tarragona, Spain). A.R.-H. is the beneficiary of a postdoctoral scholarship from the MICINN, Subprograma Juan de la Cierva (IJC-037447-I), and member of theconsolidated research group 2017 SGR 1040 of the Generalitat de Catalunya. The Institut Catala de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolucio Social (IPHES-CERCA) has received financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the ‘Maria de Maeztu’ program for Units of Excellence (CEX2019-000945-M).

We define 17 African land mammal ages, or AFLMAs, covering the Cenozoic record of the Afro-arabian continent, the planet’s second largest land mass. While fossiliferous deposits are absent on the eroded plateau of the continent’s interior, almost 800 fossil genera from over 350 locations have now been identified in coastal deposits, karst caves, and in the Neogene rift valleys. Given a well-developed geochronologic framework, together with continuing revision to the fossil record—both stimulated by the story of human evolution in Africa—and also to compensate for the variation in fossil ecosystems across such great distances, the AFLMAs are biochronological units defined by type localities, and not biozones to be recognized by the occurrence of certain genera. Disparities are notable: Africa is the highest of all continents, but almost every Paleogene locality was formed at sea level; the fossil record of its great rainforest ecosystem remains virtually unknown; and the Paleogene fauna is relatively isolated, whereas the Neogene begins with open exchange with Laurasia following the Tauride collision, with a simultaneous opening of the East African rift valleys in which the newly revolutionized fauna is abundantly preserved. Notably, the continent-wide and comprehensive documentation of the African mammalian record reveals an unparalleled rate of transformation in the hominin lineage, unmatched by any other group, in response to the Neogene expansion of the open-country ecosystem.

The destroyed site(s) of Koskobilo (Olazti, Navarre, Northern Iberian Peninsula) have yielded unique archaeo-paleontological evidence in the Western Pyrenees region. The quarry uncovered a karstic site with faunal remains in 1940, and fossils were recovered both in situ and from the quarry dump. Ten years later, while the quarry was still working, a new visit to the dump yielded a large lithic assemblage and additional fossil remains with a different taphonomic pattern, which has been interpreted as the remains coming from a different site or zone within the same karst system. Here we re-study the paleontological evidence and provide new dating on a speleothem covering a Stephanorhinus hemitoechus tooth, which has yielded a minimum date of c. 220 ka for part of the assemblage. In total, the fossil assemblage comprises 38 mammal and six avian taxa and three fish remains. The faunal evidence indicates that in 1940 a mix of taxa from both the Middle and Upper Pleistocene were recovered, and it is difficult to assign most of them to a concrete period. However, based on biochronological criteria some of the identified taxa (e.g., Ursus thibetanus, Ursus cf. deningeri, Cuon cf. priscus, Macaca sylvanus, cf. Megaceroides) could be roughly contemporaneous with the dated rhino tooth, which would provide a new window to the Middle Pleistocene of the region, with deposits from MIS 7d and/or older. Despite the difficulties in studying this collection, recovered without stratigraphic context and in a salvage operation, Koskobilo has yielded an important paleontological assemblage which helps to understand the paleoecology of the Middle Pleistocene human occupations in the Western Pyrenees.

Analysis of two fossils from a Greek cave has shed light on early hominins in Eurasia. One fossil is the earliest known specimen of Homo sapiens found outside Africa; the other is a Neanderthal who lived 40,000 years later. Fossil from Greece is the earliest known Homo sapiens in Europe.