Kenyanthropus platyops
Kenyanthropus platyops is an extinct hominid species discovered in Lake Turkana, Kenya in 1999. It was by Justus Erus, who was part of Meave Leakey's team.[1]
| Kenyanthropus platyops Temporal range: Pliocene
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| Genus: | Kenyanthropus
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| †Kenyanthropus platyops Leakey et al., 2001
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The fossil 3.5 to 3.2 million year old. It has a broad flat face with a toe bone that suggests it probably walked upright. Teeth are intermediate between typical human and typical ape forms.
Leakey proposed that the fossil represents an entirely new hominine genus.[2] Others classify it as a separate species of Australopithecus, Australopithecus platyops, and still others interpret it as an individual of Australopithecus afarensis.
If some palaeoanthropologists are correct, Kenyanthropus may not even represent a valid taxon. The specimen is so distorted by matrix-filled cracks that meaningful morphological characteristics are next to impossible to assess with confidence.
ReferencesEdit
- ↑ Kenyanthropus platyops
- ↑ Leakey, Meave G. (2001). "New hominin genus from eastern Africa shows diverse middle Pliocene lineages". Nature. 410: 433–440. doi:10.1038/35068500. Unknown parameter
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