<P> Australopithecines also had thick enamel, like those in genus Homo, while other great apes have markedly thinner enamel . One explanation for the thicker enamel is that these hominins were living more on the ground than in the trees and were foraging for tubers, nuts, and cereal grains . They would also have been eating a lot of gritty dirt with the food, which would wear at enamel, so thicker enamel would be advantageous . Or, it could simply indicate a change in diet . Robust australopithecines wore their molar surfaces down flat, unlike the more gracile species, who kept their crests, which certainly seems to suggest a different diet . The gracile Australopithecus had larger incisors, which indicates tearing and more meat in the diet, likely scavenged . The wear patterns on the tooth surfaces support a largely herbivorous diet . </P> <P> When we examine the buccal microwear patterns on the teeth of A. afarensis and A. anamensis, we see that A. afarensis did not consume a lot of grasses or seeds, but rather ate fruits and leaves, but A. anamensis did eat grasses and seeds in addition to fruits and leaves . </P> <P> In a 1979 preliminary microwear study of Australopithecus fossil teeth, anthropologist Alan Walker theorized that robust australopiths were largely frugivorous . Australopithecus species mainly ate fruit, vegetables, small lizards, and tubers . Much research has focused on a comparison between the South African species A. africanus and Paranthropus robustus . Early analyses of dental microwear in these two species showed, compared to P. robustus, A. africanus had fewer microwear features and more scratches as opposed to pits on its molar wear facets . </P> <P> These observations have been interpreted as evidence that P. robustus may have fed on hard and brittle foods, such as some nuts and seeds . More recently, new analyses based on three - dimensional renderings of wear facets have confirmed earlier work, but have also suggested that P. robustus ate hard foods primarily as a fallback resource, while A. africanus ate more mechanically tough foods . </P>

Two forms of australopithecines have been found in south africa. these are