Kenyanthropus

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 a 3.5 to 3.2 million year old (Pliocene) extinct hominin species that was discovered in Lake Turkana, Kenya in 1999 by Meave Leakey. The fossil found features a broad flat face with a toe bone that suggests it probably walked upright. Teeth are intermediate between typical human and typical ape forms. Kenyanthropus platyops, which means "Flat faced man of Kenya", is the only described species in the genus. However, if some paleoanthropologists are correct, Kenyanthropus may not even represent a valid taxon, as the specimen (KNM-WT 40000)^[1] is so horribly distorted by matrix-filled cracks that meaningful morphologic characters are next to impossible to robustly assess. It may simply be a specimen of Australopithecus afarensis, which is known from the same time period and geographic area. Other researches speculate that the flatter face position of the rough cranium is similar to KNM ER 1470 "Homo rudolfensis" and suspect it to be closer to the genus Homo, perhaps being a direct ancestor. However the debate has not been concluded and the species remains an enigma.

References

Meave G. Leakey, Fred Spoor, Frank H. Brown, Patrick N. Gathogo, Christopher Kiarie, Louise N. Leakey and Ian McDougall (2001). New hominin genus from eastern Africa shows diverse middle Pliocene lineages. Nature, 410:433-40.

Footnote

^ KNM-WT 40000 is short for: Kenya National Museum (where it is housed); West Turkana (where it was found); and 40000 (the museum acquisition number)

External links

[1] KNM-WT 40000 is short for: Kenya National Museum (where it is housed); West Turkana (where it was found); and 40000 (the museum acquisition number)

[1]