Kenyanthropus Platyops

Stephen L. Brusatte

One of a rash of new extinct hominid genera discovered and described during the turn of the 21st century, Kenyanthropus immediately garnered substantial press coverage and an onslaught of criticism after its naming in 2001. Characterized by its describers as a distinct genus that suggested a more complex early evolutionary history of the human lineage, this taxon was later dismissed by other researchers as either belonging to Australopithecus or Homo . Regardless of their taxonomic placement, the specimens described as Kenyanthropus exhibit a mosaic of primitive and derived characters that may help elucidate the characteristics, habits, and environments of human ancestors. Kenyanthropus was described in 2001 by Meave G. Leakey, Fred Spoor, Frank H. Brown, Patrick N. Gathogo, Christopher Kiarie, Louise N. Leakey, and Ian McDougall. Fossils belonging to the type species Kenyanthropus platyops were discovered at the Lomekwi Site in Kenya, on the western side of Lake Turkana, K. ...

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