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Homofloresiensis-like fossils from the early Middle Pleistocene of Flores

Overview of attention for article published in Nature, June 2016
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  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (99th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (99th percentile)

Mentioned by

news
214 news outlets
blogs
21 blogs
twitter
171 X users
facebook
14 Facebook pages
wikipedia
22 Wikipedia pages
googleplus
2 Google+ users
video
2 YouTube creators

Citations

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112 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
262 Mendeley
citeulike
2 CiteULike
Title
Homofloresiensis-like fossils from the early Middle Pleistocene of Flores
Published in
Nature, June 2016
DOI 10.1038/nature17999
Pubmed ID
Authors

Gerrit D. van den Bergh, Yousuke Kaifu, Iwan Kurniawan, Reiko T. Kono, Adam Brumm, Erick Setiyabudi, Fachroel Aziz, Michael J. Morwood

Abstract

The evolutionary origin of Homo floresiensis, a diminutive hominin species previously known only by skeletal remains from Liang Bua in western Flores, Indonesia, has been intensively debated. It is a matter of controversy whether this primitive form, dated to the Late Pleistocene, evolved from early Asian Homo erectus and represents a unique and striking case of evolutionary reversal in hominin body and brain size within an insular environment. The alternative hypothesis is that H. floresiensis derived from an older, smaller-brained member of our genus, such as Homo habilis, or perhaps even late Australopithecus, signalling a hitherto undocumented dispersal of hominins from Africa into eastern Asia by two million years ago (2 Ma). Here we describe hominin fossils excavated in 2014 from an early Middle Pleistocene site (Mata Menge) in the So'a Basin of central Flores. These specimens comprise a mandible fragment and six isolated teeth belonging to at least three small-jawed and small-toothed individuals. Dating to ~0.7 Ma, these fossils now constitute the oldest hominin remains from Flores. The Mata Menge mandible and teeth are similar in dimensions and morphological characteristics to those of H. floresiensis from Liang Bua. The exception is the mandibular first molar, which retains a more primitive condition. Notably, the Mata Menge mandible and molar are even smaller in size than those of the two existing H. floresiensis individuals from Liang Bua. The Mata Menge fossils are derived compared with Australopithecus and H. habilis, and so tend to support the view that H. floresiensis is a dwarfed descendent of early Asian H. erectus. Our findings suggest that hominins on Flores had acquired extremely small body size and other morphological traits specific to H. floresiensis at an unexpectedly early time.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 171 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 262 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 3 1%
Canada 2 <1%
Ireland 1 <1%
Italy 1 <1%
Colombia 1 <1%
Australia 1 <1%
Portugal 1 <1%
Japan 1 <1%
Hong Kong 1 <1%
Other 0 0%
Unknown 250 95%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Researcher 49 19%
Student > Ph. D. Student 43 16%
Student > Bachelor 36 14%
Student > Master 31 12%
Other 13 5%
Other 48 18%
Unknown 42 16%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 56 21%
Social Sciences 40 15%
Arts and Humanities 35 13%
Earth and Planetary Sciences 19 7%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 18 7%
Other 38 15%
Unknown 56 21%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1943. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 16 September 2023.
All research outputs
#4,850
of 25,418,993 outputs
Outputs from Nature
#519
of 97,905 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#40
of 354,690 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Nature
#5
of 986 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,418,993 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 97,905 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 102.4. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 354,690 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 986 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.