Correspondence South African Journal of Science 100, September/October 2004 443

fossil specimens reported in references 2 suffered from such a weathering by sand- and 3 were derived from this local section blasting. During its exposure, it lost Sahelanthropus as published therein. There is no doubt most of its front teeth. As reported in about their provenance. Beauvilain and Le Guellec, the broken tchadensis: the facts right canine belonging to this skull was Inventory issues found separately. There is no doubt that The MPFT practices of inventorying this canine belonged to this cranium, Sir, — In a recent article in this journal,1 and publishing fossils does not differ from because, as correctly noted by Beauvilain Beauvilain and Le Guellec suggest that 1 those normally practised in palaeontology. and Le Guellec (p. 143): ‘The tooth our initial description of Sahelanthropus All collected specimens, including homi- consisted of two fragments which fitted tchadensis2 was flawed by the inaccurate nids, are registered under an inventory perfectly onto the right canine root’. identification and association of specimens. number comprising the name of the site, However, they erroneously reported it as Their claims are without foundation. the year, a specimen number, and, in the a ‘complete’canine whereas in fact it is the Beauvilain and Le Guellec1 offered case of several pieces of the same individ- distal half of the canine. This canine was supplementary information on the ual, a part number (e.g. the cranium published in its natural position on the hypodigm and geological context of the nicknamed ‘Toumaï’ was numbered cranium.2 oldest known hominid, Sahelanthropus TM266-01-060-1). This attribution of an A parallel case occurred for the mandible tchadensis, discovered at TM266, in the inventory number occurs at different in question. The right third molar had Djurab Erg, northern Chad, by the stages when processing the discoveries: been displaced from the tooth row by Mission Paléoanthropologique Franco- erosion and transported by wind to Tchadienne2,3 (MPFT). Their stated inten- 1) for most of them, directly in the field where it was recovered, some decimetres tion was to describe ‘the events surround- after a precise identification; 2) in the distant from the mandible with the re- ing the discoveries themselves’1 (p. 142), laboratory (at N’djaména or Poitiers) for maining teeth. After recovery, we estab- although Beauvilain has already done so all the specimens recovered after sieving, lished that it belonged to the mandible at length.4 Their contribution in the South or after cleaning for some specimens com- itself, and we attached it where it belonged, African Journal of Science alleges that: 1) pletely embedded in matrix. Beauvilain, a geographer in charge of MPFT logistics, as a right M of the hemi-mandible Vignaud et al.3 failed to present correctly 3 TM266-02-154-1. Beauvilain and Le the stratigraphic nature of the hominid was unfamiliar with this process and the site TM266; 2) Brunet et al.2 neglected way in which specimens were assembled Guellec now assert that this tooth has collected hominid specimens; 3) the into the published hypodigm of S. been attributed to and mounted on the 2 mandibular specimen TM266-02-154-1 tchadensis. incorrect side. described by Brunet et al.2 is in fact a fossil The first paper describing the new taxon This moderately worn tooth bears 2 hominid chimera manufactured by a left S. tchadensis included only the specimens substantial occlusal anatomy which which were definitively identified as unambiguously identifies it as a third M3 incorrectly glued to a right hemi- mandible; 4) together, these supposed hominid by their anatomical characters. molar. The identification of the side was errors affect the Minimum Number of These specimens belong to several indi- based on two decisive independent Individuals (MNI) count for the site. viduals, as we reported in Nature:2 the criteria, one set physical and the other set Beauvilain and Le Guellec1 do not ques- holotype cranium is one of these speci- biological. First, there is an unambiguous 1 tion the attribution of the fossil to the mens. Beauvilain and Le Guellec wonder match between the lower surface of the hominid clade2 rather than to an African why a very worn incisor (TM266-01-460) tooth and its roots, which remained in the ape, but attempt to show that the MPFT and a damaged partial mandibular sym- mandible. There is no doubt about the members reached inaccurate conclusions. physis (TM266-02-203) were not included integrity of this join (Fig. 1A, B, C, F, G). The team firmly stands by its original in the paratype series. They were not This is further confirmed by the matching statements. included because their exact affinities are interproximal facet preserved on the yet to be fully developed and determined. mesial surface of the tooth in question Further studies of more fragmentary and the second molar retained by the Geological issues Given the thorough geological survey remains have identified additional indi- mandible. Second, the anatomy of the performed by the MPFT in the Djurab viduals, and the MNI count will expand third molar allows unambiguous siding. since 1994, including georadar investiga- as both excavations and preparation work As in all hominoid teeth, the buccal cusps tions,3,5–10 it is clear that the whole continue. are the more worn, with a larger, most Toros-Menalla (TM) fossiliferous area heavily worn cusp (the protoconid), shows no evidence whatsoever of a fault- Issues of restoration and marked here by heaviest occlusion and ing during at least the last 7 Myr. Except interpretation placed mesiobuccally (Fig. 1D, E). The for the modern dunes, the entire land- In the Djurab desert, the discovery of occlusal rims of the lingual cusps stand scape is very flat. In the TM area, all of the fossils is facilitated by an intense erosion out slightly but distinctly, from less wear small scarps pointed out by Beauvilain of the sediments in which they are em- due to well-known masticatory mecha- and Le Guellec1 are the consequences of bedded through the action of the sand nisms common to modern humans, fossil aeolian ‘over-digging’ at the foot of the blown by winds across the sedimentary hominids, and fossil and modern apes. dunes, as are very common across the units. When the fossils are unearthed, the Sahara and in many other sandy deserts. same aeolian erosion also affects them. Conclusion These geomorphological features do not The damage mostly consists of polishing, The logistical contributions of Beauvilain in our view represent any ‘reactivated cracking, breaking, dispersion of the dif- to the fieldwork in Chad are gratefully ancient faulting’ as they allege (p. 142). ferent parts, and, finally, total destruction acknowledged, but the claims and asser- The section given in Vignaud et al.3 is of the specimens if they are not collected tions by him and Le Guellec1 have no synthetic, showing the different encoun- almost immediately after their first expo- bearing on either the interpretation of the tered facies related to the alternation of sure. For example, the cranium TM266- geology of TM266 or of the associations, humid and dry periods. The section at 01-060-1 of Sahelanthropus tchadensis was taxonomy, or phylogeny of Sahelanthropus TM266 is accurate as published, and all partially unearthed when found and had tchadensis. 444 South African Journal of Science 100, September/October 2004 Correspondence

and T.D. White for stimulating discussions. We espe- cially thank also all the other MPFT members who joined us for the field missions, and G. Florent, C. Noël and S. Riffaut for administrative and technical support.

1. Beauvilain A. and Le Guellec Y. (2004). Further details concerning fossils attributed to Sahel- anthropus tchadensis (Toumaï). S. Afr. J. Sci. 100, 142–144. 2. Brunet M., Guy F., Pilbeam D., Mackaye H.T., Likius A., Ahounta D., Beauvilain A., Blondel C., Bocherens H., Boisserie J-R., Bonis L. de, Coppens Y., Dejax J., Denys C., Duringer P., Eisenmann V., Fanoné G., Fronty P., Geraads D., Lehmann T., Lihoreau F., Louchart A., Mahamat A., Merceron G., Mouchelin G., Otero O., Pelaez Campomanes P., Ponce De Leon M., Rage J-C., Sapanet M., Schuster M., Sudre J., Tassy P., Valentin X., Vignaud P., Viriot L., Zazzo A. and Zollikofer C. (2002). A new hominid from the Upper Miocene of Chad, Central Africa. Nature 418, 145–151. 3. Vignaud P., Duringer P., Mackaye H.T., Likius A., Blondel C., Boisserie J-R., Bonis L. de, Eisenmann V., Etienne M-E., Geraads D., Guy F., Lehmann T., Lihoreau F., Lopez-Martinez N., Mourer- Chauviré C., Otero O., Rage J-C., Schuster M., Viriot L., Zazzo A. and Brunet M. (2002). Geology and palaeontology of the Upper Miocene Toros-Menalla hominid locality, Chad. Nature 418, 152–155. 4. Beauvilain A. (2003). Toumaï,l’aventure humaine. La Table Ronde, Paris. 5. Brunet M., Beauvilain A., Coppens Y., Heintz E., Moutaye A.H.E. and Pilbeam D. (1995). The first australopithecine 2500 kilometres west of the Rift Valley (Chad). Nature 378, 273–274. 6. Brunet M., Beauvilain A., Geraads D., Guy F., Kasser M., Mackaye H.T., Maclatchy L.M., Mouchelin G., Sudre J. and Vignaud P. (1998). Tchad: découverte d’une faune de Mammifères du pliocène inférieur. C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 326, 153–158. 7. Brunet M. and M.P.F.T. (2000). Chad: discovery of a vertebrate fauna close to the Mio-Pliocene boundary. J. Vert. Paleont. 20(1), 205–209. 8. Schuster M. (2002). Sédimentologie et paléoécologie des séries à vertébrés du paléolac Tchad depuis le Miocène supérieur. Ph.D. thesis, Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg. 9. Ghienne J.M., Schuster M., Bernard A., Duringer Ph. and Brunet M. (2001). The Holocene giant Lake Chad revealed by digital elevation models. Quat. Int. 87, 81–85 10. Schuster M., Duringer Ph., Ghienne J.F., Beauvilain A., Mackaye H.T., Vignaud P. and Brunet M. (2003). Discovery of coastal conglomer- ates around the Hadjer El Khamis Inselbergs (Western Chad, Central Africa): a new evidence for lake Mega-Chad episodes. The coastal con- glomerates of Lake Mega-Chad. Earth Surf. Proc. Fig. 1. Right hemi-mandible TM266-02-154-1 of Sahelanthropus tchadensis. A, B, and C: CT scans (courtesy: Landf. 28(10), 1059–1069.

University Museum, University of Tokyo) at the level of the M3. The mandibular corpus and the retained roots of a* † the M3 are in light red. The crown of the third lower molar found separately and claimed to be a left one is in blue. A Michel Brunet and MPFT precise matching between the M3 crown and the corresponding roots in the hemi-mandible can be observed. † a,b The interstitial space between the M and its roots corresponds to thickness of the glue used to affix the tooth to Jean-Renaud Boisserie , Djimdoumalbaye 3 Ahountac, Cécile Blondela, Louis de Bonisa, Yves its roots. A, Sagittal sections with mesial side at right – from right to left, CT scans are respectively shot at Coppensd, Christiane Denyse, Philippe Duringerf, 3.33 mm, 4.41 mm, 7.83 mm, and 8.70 mm from the buccal edge of the tooth; B, transversal sections with lingual Véra Eisenmanne, Pierre Frontya, Denis Geraadsg, side at right – from right to left, CT scans are respectively shot at 2.67 mm, 3.69 mm, 4.11 mm, and 9.36 mm from Gongdibé Fanonéc , Franck Guya,k, Thomas the mesial edge of the tooth; C, sections parallel to the occlusal surface, at the cervix level and below, with mesial a a,h h Lehmann , Fabrice Lihoreau , Andossa Likius , side at top – from right to left, CT scans are respectively shot at 6.93 mm, 7.14 mm, 7.44 mm, and 7.80 mm from i h Antoine Louchart, Hassane Taisso Mackaye , Olga the occlusal edge of the tooth. Mesially, the mesio-buccal and mesio-lingual roots remaining in the corpus (see Oteroa, Pablo Pelaez Campomanesj, David Pilbeamk, F) appear in light red and show exact matching with the M crown (in blue); D, occlusal view of the complete l e 3 Marcia Ponce De Leon, Jean-Claude Rage , Mathieu f e a specimen with its M3; E, occlusal view of the M3; F, occlusal view of the M3 roots; G, disto-lingual view of the join Schuster , Pascal Tassy , Xavier Valentin , Patrick a a l (white arrow) between the M3 and its distal root. All scale bars are 0.5 mm. Vignaud , Laurent Viriot and Christoph Zollikofer. a We thank the Chadian authorities (Ministère de ECLIPSE), Ministère des Affaires Etrangères (DCSUR, CNRS UMR 6046, Université de Poitiers, 40 Avenue du Recteur Pineau, 86022 Poitiers Cedex, France; bLaboratory l’Education Nationale de l’Enseignement Supérieur Paris and SCAC N’djamena), to the Région for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of California, et de la Recherche, Université de N’djaména, CNAR). Poitou-Charentes, to the RHOI (F.C. Howell and T.D. 3060 Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, CA 94720, We extend gratitude for their support to the French White) funded by the NSF and also to the Armée U.S.A.; cCentre National d’Appui la Recherche, BP 1228, ministries, Ministère français de l’Education Française, MAM and Epervier,for logistic support. We N’Djaména, Tchad; dCollège de France, place Marcellin Nationale (Faculté des Sciences, Université de specially thank G. Suwa (University Museum, Uni- *Author for correspondence. Poitiers), Ministère de la Recherche (CNRS : SDV & versity of Tokyo) for the CT scans, and C.O. Lovejoy E-mail: [email protected] Correspondence South African Journal of Science 100, September/October 2004 445

Berthelot, 75005 Paris, France; eMuséum National owes its origins to tectonic activity. It has preserved. Conversely, the other right d’Histoire Naturelle et CNRS UMR 8569, rue Cuvier, 75005 Paris, France; fCNRS UMR 7517, Université Louis Pasteur, 1 subsequently been deflated by the wind, mandible (TM 266-02-203), discovered in rue Blessig, 67084 Strasbourg, France; gCNRS UPR 2147, but this has only modified its form rather March 2002 without teeth a dozen metres 44 rue de l’Amiral Mouchez, 75014 Paris, France; than being the original cause of it. from the mandible and M , was the first to hUniversité de N’Djaména, BP 1117, N’Djaména, Tchad; 3 iCNRS UMR 5125, Université Claude Bernard, 27–43 Bd du erode out. 11 novembre 1918, 69622 Villeurbanne, France; jMuseo de Restoration and interpretation of Ciencias Naturales, C/Guttierez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain; kPeabody Museum, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Sahelanthropus fossils Biological considerations of the M3 Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.; lAnthropolo- The fossils from the Djourab are well One of the arguments put forward by gisches Institut/Multimedia Laboratorium, Universität mineralized but are often abraded by Brunet et al.1 concerning the determina- Zürich-Irchel, Winterthurer Str. 190, 8057 Zürich, Switzer- wind-blown sand. There are strong daily tion of side of the isolated M is the wear land. 3 changes in temperature, which can range pattern. However, examination of the last from 50°C air temperature at ground level upper molar in the skull of Toumaï (Fig. 1) in the day to light frost at night. At midday, indicates that we need to be cautious Beauvilain and Le Guellec reply pebbles and fossils lying on the surface of about the interpretation of wear on cusps the ground can be too hot to touch. These in general. Curiously, in this particular instance wear on the buccal cusps is 1 changes lead to fissuring of fossils, which Brunet et al. criticize three main points closely similar to that on the lingual ones. 2 usually have planar fracture surfaces in our article : a) the tectonic origin of the rather than strongly curved ones. Crusts Because of this, from the beginning of Toros-Menalla scarp, b) the determina- covering the fossils are either in the form our study,2 we attached more importance tion of side of an isolated molar that was of a very adhesive, hard grey, chemi- to the grooves, which were less affected stuck onto a right mandible attributed to cally-resistant matrix, or as an iron-rich by wear during life (and more recently Sahelanthropus tchadensis from site TM 266, concretion, coloured by manganese, by wind abrasion), and are thus better and c) the inventory of fossils. We respond often separated from the fossil itself by a preserved than the tops of the cusps. to each of these criticisms in turn and small space occupied by sand (see Fig. 1). Firstly, the similarity between the fossil M3 conclude that our original hypothesis and The skull of Toumaï, which was found and a ‘modern’ human molar is striking. interpretation are likely to be correct. upside down on the sand, was protected The alignment on a regular curve of the from erosion by the second type of crust, three buccal cusps (protoconid, hypo- Geological issues in the Djourab whereas the right hemi-mandible TM conid, hypoconulid) and their decrease 1 Brunet et al. report that georadar did 266-02-154-1 had traces of grey matrix in size mesio-distally constitute a deter- not yield any evidence of faulting in the (Fig. 2), which also covered the base of the mining criterion. Secondly, the inter- Toros-Menalla region, and they ascribe cuspid column that we named the isolated M3. For this reason we consider the formation of the scarp to ‘overdigging’ that the cranium on the one hand, and the metaconulid in our article evokes more a by wind. Whilst wind deflation does morphological variant of the lingual mandible and the M3 on the other were indeed cause depressions in deserts, such not fossilized in the same deposits and are surface of the tooth than one of the buccal basins are seldom linear, usually being thus probably not contemporary. surface. Thirdly, the orientation of the undulating in outline or spoon-shaped. The simplest reconstruction of the history main disto-buccal groove accords pre- The fact that the scarp in question is recti- cisely in its occlusal articular dynamic of the M3 and the right hemi-mandible is linear over a distance of more than 40 km that they were broken before burial and relationship with the oblique crest (crista suggests an underlying tectonic origin. fossilization some 6 to 7 million years ago, obliqua)[‘pont d’émail’] of the non-working 3 Elsewhere in the Chad Basin there is as shown by the matrix covering the maxillary molar when the opposite side of evidence of neotectonic activity including the jaw is engaged in chewing as in other broken surface of the distal root of the M3 the western shore of Lake Chad, which (Fig. 2). Later on, they became encrusted anthropomorphs.6 runs straight NNW–SSE for nearly under near-surface conditions. Recently A second line of argument employed by 250 km, a trend that continues along the 1 exhumed by the wind, abrasion has Brunet et al. to demonstrate that the M3 Dilia Valley (Niger) over an even greater removed much of their cover of matrix fits onto the right mandible was a series of distance. The Bahr el Ghazal Valley is and has polished their surface, while scans in which the broken surface of the almost straight NNE–SSW for more than thermal variations have resulted in base of the tooth and the roots in the 450 km, with a cliff on the left bank in its mandible were shown to be compatible damage to some of the teeth. The M3 was lower reaches. This neotectonic activity presumably the last specimen to erode with each other,being separated only by a 4 frequently reactivates ancient fractures. out of the sediments as its surface is well thin but continuous layer of glue. It is Georadar was indeed used in January 1999 but only at sites east of the Bahr el Ghazal (the Toros-Menalla region is on the west side). On fossil and recent dunes it revealed reflectors only 1 to 2 metres thick,5 and in sandstone it ‘did not yield an image at depths greater than 1 metre.’5 This georadar equipment is not designed to locate evidence of faulting, and it was not used to search for faults in the Djourab. Thus failure of the equipment to reveal faults in the region does not provide a sound argument against our view that the linear stuctures that occur there are likely to be of tectonic origin. Figs 1–3. Photographs of specimens attributed to Sahelanthropus tchadensis (taken of the cranium at 08:00 on 19 July 2001): 1, the M3 in the cranium; 2, oblique lingual view of the roots of the M in the mandible (note in partic- We thus maintain our original view that 3 ular the relatively planar fracture surface of the distal root, which curves distally and buccally at a constant level the Toros-Menalla scarp, which yielded (black arrow), and compare it with the antero-posteriorly curved surface marked by an arrow in the image all the fossils of Sahelanthropus tchadensis, provided by Brunet et al.1) ; 3, root of the right C1 in the cranium of Toumaï. (Scale bars: 10 mm.) 446 South African Journal of Science 100, September/October 2004 Correspondence

necessary to recognize the detailed work logue returned to N’Djaména by the Marie-Antoinette de Lumley which allowed the fitting of the M crown University of Poitiers in December 2001, a Institut de Paléontologie Humaine, 75013 Paris, France. 3 E-mail: [email protected] so precisely onto the roots of the hemi- single fossil had been added to the field Philip D. Gingerich mandible. The hard sandy matrix which catalogue. It consists of specimen TM Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, covered the base of the isolated molar 266-01-447 (a right M3 according to Brunet MI 48109-1079, U.S.A. E-mail: [email protected] when it was found first had to be removed et al.7), whereas the catalogue entry states Colin Groves School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National and then the space now occupied by glue that it is ‘Classification – primate; Descrip- University, Canberra, A.C.T. 0200, Australia. had to be prepared millimetre by milli- tion – fragments morceaux racines M1/ E-mail: [email protected] metre. A similar operation was required M3; Dépôt – Poitiers (reliquat tamis)’. Erksin Güleç Department of Physical Anthropology and Paleoanthropology, for the parts of the root in the mandible, These specimens were returned to the University of Ankara, 06100, Sihhiye, Ankara, Turkey. which were similarly covered in matrix CNAR, N’Djaména, on 30 January 2002. E-mail: [email protected] (Fig. 2). In general, a section immediately Yohannes Haile-Selassie Cleveland Museum of Natural History, 1 Wade Oval Drive, beneath the cervix of left and right man- Conclusions Cleveland, OH 44106, U.S.A. E-mail: [email protected] dibular molars reveals radicular surfaces We see no compelling reason to modify Leslea Hlusko that may be superposed to within about radically our hypothesis about the geo- Department of Integrative Biology, The University of California morphology of the Toros-Menalla region, at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, U.S.A. one millimetre. So, it is not surprising in E-mail: [email protected] this particular case that a left tooth nor our interpretation of the isolated left Jean-Jacques Jaeger M and damaged right mandible from seemed to correspond to the roots in a 3 Equipe Phylogénie, Paléobiologie & Paléontologie, I.S.E.M., locality TM 266 attributed to Sahelanthro- CNRS-Université Montpellier II, UMR 5554, Cc 064 Place right mandible. Eugéne Bataillon, 34095 MONTPELLIER CEDEX 5, France. pus tchadensis. Finally, given the excellent E-mail: [email protected] The right upper canine of Toumaï preservation of fossils at the site, we Jay Kelley We apologize for the possibility that our consider it likely that the collection of Department of Oral Biology, College of Dentistry, University of 1 Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, U.S.A. text regarding Toumaï’s right C could be postcranial elements collected there may E-mail: [email protected] misinterpreted, the canine root being in well contain some specimens that belong Meike Köhler situ in the skull as shown in Fig. 3. In con- to Sahelanthropus. Institute de Paleontologia M. Crusafont, c/ Escola Industrial 23, 08201 Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain. trast we could only write that the canine E-mail: [email protected] crown found in November 2001 fits onto Alain Beauvilain Wu Liu the root, we being in the Djourab, and the Université de Paris X Nanterre, 200 avenue de la Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, République, 92000 Nanterre Cedex, France. Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China. skull at the University of Poitiers. E-mail: [email protected] David Lordkipanidze Curatorial issues Yves Le Guellec Georgian State Museum, 0105 Tbilisi, Georgia. Writing catalogue numbers on fossil Rue du Manoir, 76190 Yvetot, France. E-mail: [email protected] specimens is a daily activity in the field. At C. Owen Lovejoy Matthew Ferrini Institute for Human Evolutionary Research, such an important site as TM 266, all the 1. Brunet M. et al. (2004). Sahelanthropus tchadensis: Department of Anthropology, Kent State University, Kent, OH fossils were collected. That is why, from the facts. S. Afr. J. Sci. 100, 443–445. 44242, U.S.A. E-mail: [email protected] July to December 2001, 52 postcranial 2. Beauvilain A. and Le Guellec Y. (2004). Further Lawrence B. Martin bones, whose zoological group could not details concerning fossils attributed to Sahel- Department of Anthropology and of Anatomical Sciences, The anthropus tchadensis (Toumaï). S. Afr. J. Sci. 100, Graduate School, Stony Brook University, NY 11794-4433, be determined in the field, were cata- U.S.A. E-mail: [email protected] 142–144. Monte L. McCrossin logued, in the expectation that some of 3. Morin S. (2000). Géomorphologie. In Atlas de la province Extrême-Nord Cameroun, pp. 7–17. IRD- Department of Sociology and Anthropology, MSC 3BV, New them might belong to Sahelanthropus. Mexico State University, P.O. Box 30001, Las Cruces, NM Among these fragments, 36 are long LCA/France–MINREST-INC/Cameroun. 88003-8001, U.S.A. E-mail: [email protected] 4. Neev D., Hall J.K. and Saul J.M. (1982). The bones (tibia, femur, humerus and ulna) Jacopo Moggi-Cecchi Pelusium Megashear System across Africa and Laboratori di Antropologia, Dipartimento di Biologia Animale e including intact specimens and broken associated lineament swarms. J. Geophys. Res. 87, Genetica, Universitá di Firenze, via del Proconsolo 12, 50122 diaphyses. Considering the excellent B2, 1015–1030. Firenze, Italy. E-mail: [email protected] preservation of the Toumaï cranium, a 5. Schuster M. (2002). Sédimentologie et paléoécologie Salvador Moyà-Solà des séries à vertébrés du paléolac Tchad depuis le Mio- Institute de Paleontologia M. Crusafont, c/ Escola Industrial 23, careful examination of these bones cène supérieur. Thesis, University of Strasbourg. 08201 Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain. E-mail:[email protected] should yield interesting information, as 6. Lautrou A., University of ParisV–RenéDescartes, Lorenzo Rook we consider it likely that postcranial pers. comm. (author of Anatomie Dentaire, Masson, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Firenze, fossils of a large primate may be present Paris). via G. La Pira, 4, 50121 Firenze, Italy. 7. Brunet M. et al. (2002). A new hominid from the E-mail: [email protected] at the site, although nothing has been Upper Miocene of Chad, Central Africa. Nature Pat Smith reported until now. Note that in the cata- 418, 145–151. Department of Anatomy, The Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel. E-mail: [email protected] Gen Suwa The University Museum, The University of Tokyo, Hongo, Sir, — We, the undersigned, have carefully examined the photographs and digital Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan. E-mail: [email protected] crown images of a fossilized third molar from the upper Miocene of Chad. This tooth Mark Teaford was originally identified by the discoverers (Brunet et al. 2002, Nature 418, 145–151) as a Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution, Johns Hopkins right third mandibular molar. A recent paper by Beauvilain and Le Guellec (2004, S. Afr. University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, U.S.A. E-mail: [email protected] J. Sci. 100, 142–144) claimed that this tooth had been misidentified and was in fact a left Phillip V. Tobias lower third molar. Based on crown anatomy evident in the images examined by us, we School of Anatomical Sciences, University of the Witwaters- confirm the identity of this tooth as a right molar,as originally published by Brunet et al. rand, Johannesburg, South Africa. (2002). E-mail: [email protected] Alan Walker F. Clark Howell U.S.A. E-mail: [email protected] Departments of Anthropology and Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, U.S.A. Laboratory for Human Evolutionary Studies, Museum of David R. Begun E-mail: [email protected] Vertebrate Zoology, The University of California at Berkeley, Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Phil Walker Berkeley, CA 94720, U.S.A. ON M5S 3G3, Canada. Department of Anthropology, The University of California at E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, U.S.A. Tim D. White Yaowalak Chaimanee E-mail: [email protected] Laboratory for Human Evolutionary Studies, Museum of Paleontology Section, Bureau of Geological Survey, Depart- Steven Ward Vertebrate Zoology and Department of Integrative Biology, The ment of Mineral Resources, Rama VI Road, Bangkok 10400, Department of Anatomy, NEOUCOM, Rootstown, OH 44272- University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, Thailand. E-mail: [email protected] 0095, U.S.A. E-mail: [email protected]