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Homo rudolfensis From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Homo rudolfensis Temporal range:

Pleistocene, 1.9Ma Pre O S D C P T J K Pg N Reconstruction of the KNM ER 1470 skull Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Primates Family: Hominidae Genus: Homo(?) Species: H. rudolfensis Binomial name Pithecanthropus rudolfensis Alekseyev, 1978[1] Homo rudolfensis (also Australopithecus rudolfensis) is an extinct species of the Hominini tribe known only through a handful of representative fossils, the first of which was discovered by Bernard Ngeneo, a member of a team led by anthropologist Richard Leakey and zoologist Meave Leakey in 1972, at Koobi Fora on the east side of Lake Rudolf (now Lake Turkana) in Kenya. The scientific name Pithecanthropus rudolfensis was proposed in 1978 by V. P. Alekseyev[1] who later (1986) changed it Homo rudolfensis.[2] for the specimen Skull 1470 (KNM ER 1470). It remains an open debate whether the fossil evidence represents sufficient for postulating a separate species, and if so whether this species should be classified as within the Homo or Australopithecus genus.

On 8 August 2012, a team led by Meave Leakey announced the discovery of a face and two jawbones belonging to H. rudolfensis. Contents 1 KNM-ER 1470 2 2012 fossil find 3 See also 4 References 5 External links KNM-ER 1470[edit] UR 501 (original specimen), the oldest fossil of genus Homo The fossil KNM-ER 1470 was the center of much debate concerning its species. The skull was at first incorrectly dated at nearly three million years old, predating the Homo habilis species. Since then, the estimate has been corrected to 1.9 million years, but the differences in this skull, when compared to others of the Homo habilis species, are said to be too pronounced, leading to the presumption of a Homo rudolfensis species, contemporary with Homo habilis. It is not certain whether H. rudolfensis was ancestral to the later species of Homo, or whether H. habilis was, or whether some third species, yet undiscovered, was ancestral to the later Homo line. In March 2007, a team led by Timothy Bromage, an anthropologist at New York University, reconstructed the skull of KNM-ER 1470. The new construction looked very ape-like (possibly due to an exaggerated rotation of the skull[3]) and the cranial capacity based on the new construction was reported to be downsized from 752 cm to about 526 cm, although this seemed to be a matter of some controversy.[4] Bromage said his team's reconstruction included biological knowledge not known at the time of the skull's discovery, of the precise relationship between the sizes of eyes, ears, and mouth in mammals.[4] A newer publication by Bromage has since further downsized the cranial capacity estimate from 752 cm to 700 cm.[5] 2012 fossil find[edit] In August 2012, a team led by Meave Leakey published an academic paper in Nature announcing three additional H. rudolfensis fossils from northern Kenya had been found: two jawbones with teeth and a face.[6][7] The face (fossil KNM-ER 62000) was of a juvenile, but had features in common with KNM-ER 1470, suggesting the latter skull's uniqueness is due to being a separate species, rather than a large male H. habilis.[8] Team member Fred Spoor described the face as "incredib ly flat", with a straight line from the eye socket to the incisor tooth.[9] The jawbones, which appeared to match KNM-ER 1470 and KNM-ER 62000, were also shorter and more rectangular than known H. habilis specimens.[8] The fossils were dated to about two million years ago, being contemporaneous

with H. habilis.[9] According to Leakey et al., "the new fossils confirm the presence of two contemporary species of early Homo [that is, habilis and rudolfensis], in addition to Homo erectus, in the early Pleistocene of eastern Africa".[7] Lee Rogers Berger, however, called the argument "weak", and proposed the finds be compared to other possibilities, such as Australopithecus africanus and Australopithecus sediba.[9] Tim D. White of the University of California also challenged the findings, asking, "How can practitioners in this field possibly expect to be able to accurately identify fossil species based upon a few teeth, jaws, and lower faces in light of what we know about the great variation found among different individuals in a single living species?" Leakey replied, "I would challenge Tim to find any primate in which you would see the same degrees of variation as those that we are seeing between our new fossils and KNM-ER 1802".[10] KNM-ER 1802 is a lower-jaw fossil that is thought to be of a Homo rudolfensis. Given the difference between this fossil and the ones found in 2012, Leakey has proposed that the fossil is not of a H. rudolfensis, but possibly, of a H. habilis. Bernard Wood considers that it is "perfectly possible " that there were interactions between these different species.[10] See also[edit] List of fossil sites List of human evolution fossils References[edit] ^ a b .. . . ., , 1978. ^ Wood, B. (1999). "'Homo rudolfensis' Alexeev, 1986: Fact or phantom?". Journal of Human Evolution 36 (1): 115118. doi:10.1006/jhev.1998.0246. PMID 9924136. ^ John Hawks (31 March 2007). "KNM-ER 1470 is not a microcephalic". ^ a b Than, Ker (29 March 2007). "Controversial Human Ancestor Gets Major Facelift". LiveScience. Retrieved 8 August 2012. ^ Bromage, TG, McMahon, JM, Thackeray, JF et al. (2008). "Craniofacial architectural constraints and their importance for reconstructing the early Homo skull KNM-ER 1470". The Journal of Clinical Pediatric Dentistry 33 (1): 4354. PMID 19093651. ^ Ghosh, Pallab (9 August 2012). "Many human 'prototypes' coexisted in Africa". BBC News. Retrieved 8 August 2012. ^ a b Leakey, Meave; Spoor, Fred; Dean, M. Christopher; Feibel, Craig S.; Antn, Susan C.; Kiarie, Christopher; Leakey, Louise N. (8 August 2012). "New fossils from Koobi Fora in northern Kenya confirm taxonomic diversity in early Homo". Nature 488 (7410): 2014. Bibcode:2012Natur.488..201L. doi:10.1038/nature11322. PMID 22874966. Retrieved 9 August 2012. ^ a b Wayman, Erin (8 August 2012). "Multiple Species of Early Homo Lived in Africa". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 9 August 2012.

^ a b c Landau, Elizabeth (8 August 2012). "Fossils complicate human ancestor search". CNN. Retrieved 9 August 2012. ^ a b Kaplan, Matt (8 August 2012). "Fossils point to a big family for human ancestors". Nature. Retrieved 8 August 2012. External links[edit] Wikimedia Commons has media related to Homo rudolfensis. Archaeology Info Talk Origins Skull KNM-ER 1470 Homo rudolfensis The Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program v t e Part of the series on human evolution Homininae Ardipithecus Kenyanthropus Orrorin Sahelanthropus Chimpanzeehuman last common ancestor Australopithecines Australopithecus A. afarensis A. africanus A. anamensis A. bahrelghazali A. garhi A. sediba Paranthropus P. aethiopicus P. boisei P. robustus Humans and proto-humans Archaic humans H. ergaster H. gautengensis H. habilis H. rudolfensis Homo erectus H. e. erectus H. e. georgicus

H. e. lantianensis H. e. nankinensis H. e. palaeojavanicus H. e. pekinensis H. e. soloensis H. e. tautavelensis H. e. yuanmouensis Denisova hominin H. antecessor H. cepranensis H. floresiensis H. heidelbergensis H. neanderthalensis H. rhodesiensis Red Deer Cave people Homo sapiens (Human) H. s. idaltu H. s. sapiens Related Books Genetics List of fossils Models Multiregional origin Recent African origin Timeline Evolutionary biology portal Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Homo_rudolfensis&oldid =594415830" Categories: 1972 archaeological discoveries Early species of Homo Hominini Fossil taxa described in 1978

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