ABSTRACT
T HE CHIEF PURPOSE of this paper is to speculate about the selective forces which brought the australopithecine group into existence, caused adaptive radiation within the group, and resulted in the origin of man. AUSTRALOPITHECINE TAXONOMY
Although our prime concern in this discussion is with ecology, behavior, and functional anatomy, it seems advisable to discuss taxonomy first. Adaptive radiation cannot be discussed fruitfully if it is not clear what categories are involved in the group concerned; indeed whether adaptive radiation has actually occurred must first be decided by taxonomic analysis. From the literature it would appear that most workers regard the Australopithecine group as being virtually uniform taxonomically; some apparently go so far as to regard the known forms as members of the same phyletic sequence and therefore as exhibiting no adaptive radiation whatever. The literature also contains many statements that such and such are Australopithecine characteristics as though all known Australopithecines have the same characteristics.
