Abstract
The assignment of fossil hominoid jaws from the Plio/Pleistocene of Hadar to a single genus,Australopithecus Dart, 1925, is a misnomer. They are morphologically unrestricted to and inconsistent with the diagnosis and evolutionary trend ofAustralopithecus. The morphological pattern of four large jaws is indeed australopithecine and similar toA. africanus Dart, 1925, but six small jaws reveal a pre-habilis stage of dental development early in theHomo lineage. On the basis of their unique hominine dentition, they are reinterpreted as representing a new species,Homo antiquus n.sp.
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Ferguson, W.W. Revision of fossil hominid jaws from the plio/pleistocene of hadar, in ethiopia including a new species of the genusHomo (hominoidea: homininae). Primates 25, 519–529 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02381673
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02381673