A new species name for Little Foot (StW 573) from Sterkfontein: Australopithecus lenyanlenus15/2/2026 Francis Thackery, ESI ([email protected]) Martin et al (2025) have examined certain fossils (Fig. 1) which have historically been attributed to either Australopithecus africanus (notably Sts 5, “Mrs Ples”, discovered at Sterkfontein in 1947 and described by Robert Broom and John Robinson) or A. prometheus (notably the holotype, MLD 1, discovered at Makapansgat and described by Raymond Dart in 1948). StW 573 (“Little Foot”, discovered at Sterkfontein by Ron Clarke with Nkwane Molefe and Stephen Motsumi) has been attributed by Clarke and Kuman (2019) to A. prometheus.  Figure 1: Occipital views (Martin et al, 2025) of three hominin crania (StW 573, MLD 1 and Sts 5), annotated by Thackeray (this study). Little Foot (StW 573) is attributed to A. lenyanlenus. Phonetically the latter is prounounced “len-yan-len-us”.
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Chandelé Montgomery, Communications Officer  Trek Back Tuesday is a new series revisiting the rich history of work shared by members of the Palaeontological Society of Southern Africa through its long-running bi-annual newsletter (PalNews). These pieces reflect decades of research, fieldwork, mentorship, and discovery - many of which continue to shape palaeontology in southern Africa and beyond. Through this series, we aim to bring selected archival articles back into view, placing them in a contemporary context while preserving the voices and perspectives of the time in which they were written. Trek Back Tuesday is not only about looking back, but about recognising how past contributions continue to inform present research and future directions.
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