Leslea J Hlusko
Biographic Data
| ID | 88769 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Leslea J Hlusko |
| GIVEN NAMES | Leslea J |
| FAMILY NAME | Hlusko |
| SIGNATURE | HLUSKO L J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0189-6390 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 26 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 238 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 26 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2001 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 9 |
Student perception of accessibility and disability in college evolutionary biology courses
Uniform, circular, and shallow enamel pitting in hominins
This study explores a particular form of enamel pitting originally identified in Paranthropus robustus. We call this uniform, circular, and shallow (UCS) pitting to distinguish it from more irregular and nonuniform defects often associated with enamel hypoplasia. We pose the hypothesis that UCS pitting is unique to the genus Paranthropus. We test this by investigating hominin dental remains from the ca. 3.4 Ma to ca. 1.1 Ma fossiliferous sequence…
Taxonomic assignments for the 3.4 Ma to 1.1 Ma hominin postcanine teeth from the Usno Formation and the Shungura Formation, Lower Omo Valley, Ethiopia
Sediments of the Usno Formation and the Shungura Formation date from ca. 3.75 Ma to 1.09 Ma, during which time the genus Homo appeared, Australopithecus disappeared, and the eastern African robust hominins did both. We performed an in-depth analysis of size, shape, and morphology of 108 Omo permanent postcanine dental specimens. First, we compared linear dimensions against a comparative dataset of 809 teeth from 359 specimens representing 10 homi…
Hominin diversity and occlusal pattern variations
Ce document a t gnr automatiquement le 17 dcembre 2025. Le texte seul est utilisable
Peopling the Americas
A widely accepted model for the peopling of the Americas postulates a source population in the Northeast Asian maritime region, which includes northern Japan. The model is based on similarities in stone artifacts (stemmed points) found in North American sites dating as early as 15,000 years ago and those of comparable age in Japan and neighboring regions of Northeast Asia. Here we show, on the basis of data and analyses in biological anthropology…
Effects of hybridization on pelvic morphology
Ancient DNA analyses have shown that interbreeding between hominin taxa occurred multiple times. Although admixture is often reflected in skeletal phenotype, the relationship between the two remains poorly understood, hampering interpretation of the hominin fossil record. Direct study of this relationship is often impossible due to the paucity of hominin fossils and difficulties retrieving ancient genetic material. Here, we use a sample of known …
Breaking the rules
OBJECTIVES: Although a great deal is known about the biology of tooth development and eruption, there remains disagreement about the factors driving the evolution of dental eruption sequence. We assessed postcanine eruption sequence across a large sample of primates to test two hypotheses: (1) Dental eruption sequence is significantly correlated with life history and body size variables that capture postnatal growth and longevity (Schultz's Rule)…
Paleoecology of the Serengeti during the Oldowan-Acheulean transition at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
Oh 83
There have been numerous attempts to use cranial anatomy to define the species Homo sapiens and identify it in the fossil record. These efforts have not met wide agreement by the scientific community due, in part, to the mosaic patterns of cranial variation represented by the fossils. The variable, mosaic pattern of trait expression in the crania of Middle and Late Pleistocene fossils implies that morphological modernity did not occur at once. Ho…
A one‐million‐year‐old hominid distal ulna from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
The size and morphology of this distal ulna falls within the normal range of variation seen in humans, although at the larger end of the distribution
Identification of a derived dental trait in the papionini relative to other old world monkeys
Variation in the shape of teeth provides an immense amount of information about the evolutionary history and adaptive strategy of a mammalian lineage. Here, we explore variation in the expression of a purported molar lingual remnant (the interconulus) across the Old World Monkeys (Primates: Cercopithecidae) with the aim of elucidating a component of the adaptive radiation of this family. This radiation is characterized by a wide geographic range …
Neanderthal teeth from moula‐guercy, Ardèche, France
Here we describe dental remains from a Neanderthal fossil assemblage from Moula‐Guercy, France. Our report demonstrates that the Moula‐Guercy hominid remains contribute important morphological, developmental, and behavioral data to understanding Neanderthal evolutionary history. We include gross comparative morphological descriptions and enamel surface microstructure and microwear data. These teeth reveal numerous characteristics that are diagnos…
Genetic integration of molar cusp size variation in baboons
Many studies of primate diversity and evolution rely on dental morphology for insight into diet, behavior, and phylogenetic relationships. Consequently, variation in molar cusp size has increasingly become a phenotype of interest. In 2007 we published a quantitative genetic analysis of mandibular molar cusp size variation in baboons. Those results provided more questions than answers, as the pattern of genetic integration did not fit predictions …
Fine-tuning paleoanthropological reconnaissance with high-resolution satellite imagery
Genetic correlations between mandibular molar cusp areas in baboons
Primate evolutionary studies rely significantly on dental variation given the large role that teeth play in how an organism interacts with its environment (animal and plant) and conspecifics. Variation in cusp size has been shown to vary among primate taxa, although most studies to date focused on extant and extinct hominoids. Here we test the assumed hypothesis that a significant proportion of this variation in baboons is due to the additive eff…
Asa Issie, Aramis and the origin of Australopithecus
Evolution of genetically correlated traits
Within a population, only phenotypic variation that is influenced by genes will respond to selection. Genes with pleiotropic effects are known to influence numerous traits, complicating our understanding of their evolution through time. Here we use quantitative genetic analyses to identify and estimate the shared genetic effects between molar size and trunk length in a pedigreed, breeding population of baboons housed at the Southwest National Pri…
Mandibular Symphysis of Large-Bodied Hominoids
The hominoid mandibular symphysis has received a great deal of attention from anatomists, human biologists, and paleontologists. Much of this research has focused on functional interpretations of symphyseal shape variation. Here, we examine the two-dimensional cross-sectional shape of the adult mandibular symphysis for 45 humans, 42 chimpanzees, 37 gorillas, and 51 orangutans using eigenshape analysis, an outline-based morphometric approach. Our …
Genetics and the evolution of primate enamel thickness
The thickness of mammalian tooth enamel plays a prominent role in paleontology because it correlates with diet, and thicker enamel protects against tooth breakage and wear. Hominid evolutionary studies have stressed the importance of this character for over 30 years, from the identification of “ Ramapithecus ” as an early Miocene hominid, to the recent discovery that the earliest hominids display molar enamel intermediate in thickness between ext…
Protostylid variation in Australopithecus
Lemudong'o
The Oldest Hominid Habit? Experimental Evidence for Toothpicking with Grass Stalks
Expression Types for Two Cercopithecoid Dental Traits (Interconulus and Interconulid) and Their Variation in a Modern Baboon Population
Statistical genetic comparison of two techniques for assessing molar crown size in pedigreed baboons
Dental anthropologists and paleoanthropologists commonly use an estimated molar crown area (mesiodistal length multiplied by buccolingual width) to describe and compare individuals, populations, and species. Advances in digital imaging now allow researchers to measure the actual crown area of a molar in an occlusal two‐dimensional plane. Because error is reduced by this more accurate measurement, actual crown area is thought to be a better repres…
Identifying metameric variation in extant hominoid and fossil hominid mandibular molars
Landmark data were collected from cross sections and occlusal images of mandibular molar crowns, and Euclidean distance matrix analysis (EDMA) was used to identify metameric morphological variation between the first and second mandibular molars of living taxa: Gorilla gorilla (n = 30), Pan troglodytes (n = 34), and Homo sapiens (n = 26). Two patterns of metameric variation were identified, one unique to humans and the other shared by chimpanzees …
Genetics and the evolution of primate enamel thickness
The thickness of mammalian tooth enamel plays a prominent role in paleontology because it correlates with diet, and thicker enamel protects against tooth breakage and wear. Hominid evolutionary studies have stressed the importance of this character for over 30 years, from the identification of “ Ramapithecus ” as an early Miocene hominid, to the recent discovery that the earliest hominids display molar enamel intermediate in thickness between ext…
Protostylid variation in Australopithecus
Statistical genetic comparison of two techniques for assessing molar crown size in pedigreed baboons
Dental anthropologists and paleoanthropologists commonly use an estimated molar crown area (mesiodistal length multiplied by buccolingual width) to describe and compare individuals, populations, and species. Advances in digital imaging now allow researchers to measure the actual crown area of a molar in an occlusal two‐dimensional plane. Because error is reduced by this more accurate measurement, actual crown area is thought to be a better repres…
The Oldest Hominid Habit? Experimental Evidence for Toothpicking with Grass Stalks
Genetic integration of molar cusp size variation in baboons
Many studies of primate diversity and evolution rely on dental morphology for insight into diet, behavior, and phylogenetic relationships. Consequently, variation in molar cusp size has increasingly become a phenotype of interest. In 2007 we published a quantitative genetic analysis of mandibular molar cusp size variation in baboons. Those results provided more questions than answers, as the pattern of genetic integration did not fit predictions …
Genetic correlations between mandibular molar cusp areas in baboons
Primate evolutionary studies rely significantly on dental variation given the large role that teeth play in how an organism interacts with its environment (animal and plant) and conspecifics. Variation in cusp size has been shown to vary among primate taxa, although most studies to date focused on extant and extinct hominoids. Here we test the assumed hypothesis that a significant proportion of this variation in baboons is due to the additive eff…
Paleoecology of the Serengeti during the Oldowan-Acheulean transition at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
Neanderthal teeth from moula‐guercy, Ardèche, France
Here we describe dental remains from a Neanderthal fossil assemblage from Moula‐Guercy, France. Our report demonstrates that the Moula‐Guercy hominid remains contribute important morphological, developmental, and behavioral data to understanding Neanderthal evolutionary history. We include gross comparative morphological descriptions and enamel surface microstructure and microwear data. These teeth reveal numerous characteristics that are diagnos…
Evolution of genetically correlated traits
Within a population, only phenotypic variation that is influenced by genes will respond to selection. Genes with pleiotropic effects are known to influence numerous traits, complicating our understanding of their evolution through time. Here we use quantitative genetic analyses to identify and estimate the shared genetic effects between molar size and trunk length in a pedigreed, breeding population of baboons housed at the Southwest National Pri…
Mandibular Symphysis of Large-Bodied Hominoids
The hominoid mandibular symphysis has received a great deal of attention from anatomists, human biologists, and paleontologists. Much of this research has focused on functional interpretations of symphyseal shape variation. Here, we examine the two-dimensional cross-sectional shape of the adult mandibular symphysis for 45 humans, 42 chimpanzees, 37 gorillas, and 51 orangutans using eigenshape analysis, an outline-based morphometric approach. Our …
Identifying metameric variation in extant hominoid and fossil hominid mandibular molars
Landmark data were collected from cross sections and occlusal images of mandibular molar crowns, and Euclidean distance matrix analysis (EDMA) was used to identify metameric morphological variation between the first and second mandibular molars of living taxa: Gorilla gorilla (n = 30), Pan troglodytes (n = 34), and Homo sapiens (n = 26). Two patterns of metameric variation were identified, one unique to humans and the other shared by chimpanzees …
Oh 83
There have been numerous attempts to use cranial anatomy to define the species Homo sapiens and identify it in the fossil record. These efforts have not met wide agreement by the scientific community due, in part, to the mosaic patterns of cranial variation represented by the fossils. The variable, mosaic pattern of trait expression in the crania of Middle and Late Pleistocene fossils implies that morphological modernity did not occur at once. Ho…
Expression Types for Two Cercopithecoid Dental Traits (Interconulus and Interconulid) and Their Variation in a Modern Baboon Population
Effects of hybridization on pelvic morphology
Ancient DNA analyses have shown that interbreeding between hominin taxa occurred multiple times. Although admixture is often reflected in skeletal phenotype, the relationship between the two remains poorly understood, hampering interpretation of the hominin fossil record. Direct study of this relationship is often impossible due to the paucity of hominin fossils and difficulties retrieving ancient genetic material. Here, we use a sample of known …
A one‐million‐year‐old hominid distal ulna from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
The size and morphology of this distal ulna falls within the normal range of variation seen in humans, although at the larger end of the distribution
Identification of a derived dental trait in the papionini relative to other old world monkeys
Variation in the shape of teeth provides an immense amount of information about the evolutionary history and adaptive strategy of a mammalian lineage. Here, we explore variation in the expression of a purported molar lingual remnant (the interconulus) across the Old World Monkeys (Primates: Cercopithecidae) with the aim of elucidating a component of the adaptive radiation of this family. This radiation is characterized by a wide geographic range …
Fine-tuning paleoanthropological reconnaissance with high-resolution satellite imagery
Breaking the rules
OBJECTIVES: Although a great deal is known about the biology of tooth development and eruption, there remains disagreement about the factors driving the evolution of dental eruption sequence. We assessed postcanine eruption sequence across a large sample of primates to test two hypotheses: (1) Dental eruption sequence is significantly correlated with life history and body size variables that capture postnatal growth and longevity (Schultz's Rule)…
Taxonomic assignments for the 3.4 Ma to 1.1 Ma hominin postcanine teeth from the Usno Formation and the Shungura Formation, Lower Omo Valley, Ethiopia
Sediments of the Usno Formation and the Shungura Formation date from ca. 3.75 Ma to 1.09 Ma, during which time the genus Homo appeared, Australopithecus disappeared, and the eastern African robust hominins did both. We performed an in-depth analysis of size, shape, and morphology of 108 Omo permanent postcanine dental specimens. First, we compared linear dimensions against a comparative dataset of 809 teeth from 359 specimens representing 10 homi…
Morphometric analysis of hominoid lower molars from Yuanmou of Yunnan Province, China
Expression Types for Two Cercopithecoid Dental Traits (Interconulus and Interconulid) and Their Variation in a Modern Baboon Population
Statistical genetic comparison of two techniques for assessing molar crown size in pedigreed baboons
Dental anthropologists and paleoanthropologists commonly use an estimated molar crown area (mesiodistal length multiplied by buccolingual width) to describe and compare individuals, populations, and species. Advances in digital imaging now allow researchers to measure the actual crown area of a molar in an occlusal two‐dimensional plane. Because error is reduced by this more accurate measurement, actual crown area is thought to be a better repres…
Identifying metameric variation in extant hominoid and fossil hominid mandibular molars
Landmark data were collected from cross sections and occlusal images of mandibular molar crowns, and Euclidean distance matrix analysis (EDMA) was used to identify metameric morphological variation between the first and second mandibular molars of living taxa: Gorilla gorilla (n = 30), Pan troglodytes (n = 34), and Homo sapiens (n = 26). Two patterns of metameric variation were identified, one unique to humans and the other shared by chimpanzees …
Lemudong'o
The Oldest Hominid Habit? Experimental Evidence for Toothpicking with Grass Stalks
Genetics and the evolution of primate enamel thickness
The thickness of mammalian tooth enamel plays a prominent role in paleontology because it correlates with diet, and thicker enamel protects against tooth breakage and wear. Hominid evolutionary studies have stressed the importance of this character for over 30 years, from the identification of “ Ramapithecus ” as an early Miocene hominid, to the recent discovery that the earliest hominids display molar enamel intermediate in thickness between ext…
Protostylid variation in Australopithecus
Mandibular Symphysis of Large-Bodied Hominoids
The hominoid mandibular symphysis has received a great deal of attention from anatomists, human biologists, and paleontologists. Much of this research has focused on functional interpretations of symphyseal shape variation. Here, we examine the two-dimensional cross-sectional shape of the adult mandibular symphysis for 45 humans, 42 chimpanzees, 37 gorillas, and 51 orangutans using eigenshape analysis, an outline-based morphometric approach. Our …
Asa Issie, Aramis and the origin of Australopithecus
Evolution of genetically correlated traits
Within a population, only phenotypic variation that is influenced by genes will respond to selection. Genes with pleiotropic effects are known to influence numerous traits, complicating our understanding of their evolution through time. Here we use quantitative genetic analyses to identify and estimate the shared genetic effects between molar size and trunk length in a pedigreed, breeding population of baboons housed at the Southwest National Pri…
Genetic correlations between mandibular molar cusp areas in baboons
Primate evolutionary studies rely significantly on dental variation given the large role that teeth play in how an organism interacts with its environment (animal and plant) and conspecifics. Variation in cusp size has been shown to vary among primate taxa, although most studies to date focused on extant and extinct hominoids. Here we test the assumed hypothesis that a significant proportion of this variation in baboons is due to the additive eff…
Genetic integration of molar cusp size variation in baboons
Many studies of primate diversity and evolution rely on dental morphology for insight into diet, behavior, and phylogenetic relationships. Consequently, variation in molar cusp size has increasingly become a phenotype of interest. In 2007 we published a quantitative genetic analysis of mandibular molar cusp size variation in baboons. Those results provided more questions than answers, as the pattern of genetic integration did not fit predictions …
Fine-tuning paleoanthropological reconnaissance with high-resolution satellite imagery
Neanderthal teeth from moula‐guercy, Ardèche, France
Here we describe dental remains from a Neanderthal fossil assemblage from Moula‐Guercy, France. Our report demonstrates that the Moula‐Guercy hominid remains contribute important morphological, developmental, and behavioral data to understanding Neanderthal evolutionary history. We include gross comparative morphological descriptions and enamel surface microstructure and microwear data. These teeth reveal numerous characteristics that are diagnos…
Identification of a derived dental trait in the papionini relative to other old world monkeys
Variation in the shape of teeth provides an immense amount of information about the evolutionary history and adaptive strategy of a mammalian lineage. Here, we explore variation in the expression of a purported molar lingual remnant (the interconulus) across the Old World Monkeys (Primates: Cercopithecidae) with the aim of elucidating a component of the adaptive radiation of this family. This radiation is characterized by a wide geographic range …
A one‐million‐year‐old hominid distal ulna from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
The size and morphology of this distal ulna falls within the normal range of variation seen in humans, although at the larger end of the distribution
Oh 83
There have been numerous attempts to use cranial anatomy to define the species Homo sapiens and identify it in the fossil record. These efforts have not met wide agreement by the scientific community due, in part, to the mosaic patterns of cranial variation represented by the fossils. The variable, mosaic pattern of trait expression in the crania of Middle and Late Pleistocene fossils implies that morphological modernity did not occur at once. Ho…
Breaking the rules
OBJECTIVES: Although a great deal is known about the biology of tooth development and eruption, there remains disagreement about the factors driving the evolution of dental eruption sequence. We assessed postcanine eruption sequence across a large sample of primates to test two hypotheses: (1) Dental eruption sequence is significantly correlated with life history and body size variables that capture postnatal growth and longevity (Schultz's Rule)…
Paleoecology of the Serengeti during the Oldowan-Acheulean transition at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
Peopling the Americas
A widely accepted model for the peopling of the Americas postulates a source population in the Northeast Asian maritime region, which includes northern Japan. The model is based on similarities in stone artifacts (stemmed points) found in North American sites dating as early as 15,000 years ago and those of comparable age in Japan and neighboring regions of Northeast Asia. Here we show, on the basis of data and analyses in biological anthropology…
Effects of hybridization on pelvic morphology
Ancient DNA analyses have shown that interbreeding between hominin taxa occurred multiple times. Although admixture is often reflected in skeletal phenotype, the relationship between the two remains poorly understood, hampering interpretation of the hominin fossil record. Direct study of this relationship is often impossible due to the paucity of hominin fossils and difficulties retrieving ancient genetic material. Here, we use a sample of known …
Taxonomic assignments for the 3.4 Ma to 1.1 Ma hominin postcanine teeth from the Usno Formation and the Shungura Formation, Lower Omo Valley, Ethiopia
Sediments of the Usno Formation and the Shungura Formation date from ca. 3.75 Ma to 1.09 Ma, during which time the genus Homo appeared, Australopithecus disappeared, and the eastern African robust hominins did both. We performed an in-depth analysis of size, shape, and morphology of 108 Omo permanent postcanine dental specimens. First, we compared linear dimensions against a comparative dataset of 809 teeth from 359 specimens representing 10 homi…
Hominin diversity and occlusal pattern variations
Ce document a t gnr automatiquement le 17 dcembre 2025. Le texte seul est utilisable
Student perception of accessibility and disability in college evolutionary biology courses
Biology (21 works) · Evolutionary biology (18 works) · Paleontology (16 works) · Paleontology (16 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (16 works) · Geography (14 works) · Zoology (14 works) · Evolution and Paleontology Studies (10 works) · Primate Behavior and Ecology (10 works) · Genetics (9 works)