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Orion1
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Long before Homo erectus, Australopithecus afarensis (Lucy, more than 3 million years ago) and several other distant kin, scientists are reporting today, there lived a primitive hominid species in what is now Ethiopia about 5.5 million to 5.8 million years ago.
That would make the newly recognized species one of the earliest known human ancestors, perhaps one of the first to emerge after the chimpanzee and human lineages diverged from a common ancestor some 6 million to 8 million years ago.
But with more discoveries and a closer study, especially of the teeth, the scientists decided that the kadabba fossils from five individuals were distinctive enough to qualify as a separate species: Ardipithecus kadabba. In that case, the scientists added, kadabba was not a subspecies, but the likely direct ancestor of ramidus.
Reference:
http://www.sltrib.com/2004/Mar/03052004/nation_w/144989.asp
That would make the newly recognized species one of the earliest known human ancestors, perhaps one of the first to emerge after the chimpanzee and human lineages diverged from a common ancestor some 6 million to 8 million years ago.
But with more discoveries and a closer study, especially of the teeth, the scientists decided that the kadabba fossils from five individuals were distinctive enough to qualify as a separate species: Ardipithecus kadabba. In that case, the scientists added, kadabba was not a subspecies, but the likely direct ancestor of ramidus.
Reference:
http://www.sltrib.com/2004/Mar/03052004/nation_w/144989.asp
