Kenyanthropus platyops

Kenyanthropus platyops is an extinct hominid species discovered in Lake Turkana, Kenya in 1999. It was found by Justus Erus, who was part of Meave Leakey's team.Kenyanthropus platyops 

The fossil is 3.5 to 3.2 million years old. It has a broad flat face with a toe bone that suggests it probably walked upright. Its teeth are intermediate between typical human and typical ape forms.

Leakey proposed that the fossil represents an entirely new hominin genus. Others classify it as a separate species of Australopithecus: Australopithecus platyops. Still others interpret it as an individual of Australopithecus afarensis.

If some palaeoanthropologists 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. 

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Category:Australopithecines