Kenyanthropus platyops
| Kenyanthropus platyops Temporal range: Pliocene |
|
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Family: | Hominidae |
| Subfamily: | Homininae |
| Genus: | Kenyanthropus |
| Species: | K. platyops |
| Binomial name | |
| †Kenyanthropus platyops Leakey et al., 2001 |
|
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]
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 paleoanthropologists 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.
References [change]
- ↑ Kenyanthropus platyops
- ↑ Leakey, Meave G.; et al. (2001). "New hominin genus from eastern Africa shows diverse middle Pliocene lineages". Nature 410: 433–440. doi:10.1038/35068500.
