Photos of the mandible of the supposed newly discovered species, Paranthropus capensis.
The mysterious jaw 1.4 million years old discovered in South Africa in 1949 belongs to a human relative never before known.
One jaw at 1.4 million years – As the researchers refer, “a little strange to the Homo” – It’s a human relative never before seen.
The fossil was in a cave in South Africa; and was next to other fossils of specimens of the Homo primitive and the extinct human relative of the genre Paranthropus -whose nickname is “Nightbreaker” due to his massive jaws and huge molars.
Only, according to a study to be from the March edition of the Journal of Human Evolutionrevealed that this jaw belongs to a new species of the Paranthropuswhich has a Mandíbula and smaller teeth.
As initially the scientists thought that the SK 15 was of a species never seen before, which they called Telanthropus capensis.
Then, in the 1960s, the researchers suggested that it belonged to the relatively slender primitive human species known as Homo Ergaster. However, the course soon changed and theorized that SK 15 was not H. ergasterbut a species of Paranthropus hitherto unknown.
Paranthropus… And any more
“It is the first time, since the 70’s, that a new kind of Paranthropus“The research leader, the Live Science, told Live Science Clément Zanollifrom the University of Bordeaux, in France.
The findings then suggested that SK 15 did not belong to any of the three species of Paranthropus hitherto recognized – A. aethiopicus, P. boisei e A. robustus.
Here’s the P. capensis
The investigators finally suggested that the jaw belonged to a new species, which they named P. capensis.
“They probably had different ecological niches“Said Zanolli.
O A. robustus had probably a highly specialized diet, “as suggested by the jaw and massive teeth, while the P. capensiswhich has smaller teeth and a less robust jaw, may have had a most varied and potentially explored diet different food resources“He added.
