The medial pterygoid tubercle in the Atapuerca Early and Middle Pleistocene mandibles: Evolutionary implications

Research on the medial pterygoid tubercle (MTP) challenges its status as a unique Neandertal feature, revealing it appears in over half of Middle Pleistocene Sima de los Huesos hominins and in Early Pleistocene Homo antecessor mandibles from Atapuerca. The study, involving literature reviews and analyses of fossil specimens, found the MTP present at high frequencies (89% in Neandertals) but absent or minimally developed in other extinct hominins, except for variable occurrences in modern humans. This suggests that assumed derived Neandertal traits may have emerged earlier in the Pleistocene, shared among multiple taxa including H. antecessor and Sima de los Huesos hominins, indicating a common ancestor rather than a Neandertal autapomorphy.

Bermúdez de Castro, J.-M., Quam, R., Martinón‐Torres, M., Martínez, I., Gracia‐Téllez, A., Arsuaga, J. L., & Carbonell, E. (2014). The medial pterygoid tubercle in the Atapuerca Early and Middle Pleistocene mandibles: Evolutionary implications. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 156(1), 102–109. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.22631