Fig. 6: Morphometric comparisons of the DNH 83 maxilla with Paranthropus robustus, Australopithecus africanus and Homo sapiens infants.

Plots of principal components (PCs) 1 and 2 (a), and 1 and 3 (b) describing the differences in maxillary shape between DNH 83 (brown star), P. robustus infants DNH 47 and KW 9000 (in red), the A. africanus holotype specimen from Taung (in gray), and H. sapiens infants (in dark blue). Variations within taxa are represented as convex polyhedra that enclose the corresponding points. c Landmarks, semi-landmarks, and vectors depicting shape changes corresponding to PC1 and PC3 are shown in anterior and left lateral views, superimposed on the mean shape (in yellow), which represents DNH 83 warped to the mean configuration of landmarks. The numbering of landmarks and semi-landmarks corresponds to the descriptions provided in the Methods section. The vectors (black segments) represent the displacement of landmarks and semi-landmarks from positions associated with the lowest values of PC1 and PC3 (in gray) to those corresponding to the highest values along these PCs. d The same vectors and views as in (c) are used to illustrate the displacement of landmarks and semi-landmarks from the positions associated with DNH 83 (landmarks in light brown) to those of DNH 47 (landmarks in red), superimposed on DNH 83 (in dark brown) and DNH 83 warped to DNH 47 (in transparency and in red).