A new hominid from the Upper Miocene of Chad, Central Africa.
The search for the earliest fossil evidence of the human lineage has been concentrated in East Africa. Here we report the discovery of six hominid specimens from Chad, central Africa, 2,500 km from the East African Rift Valley. The fossils include a nearly complete cranium and fragmentary lower jaws. The associated fauna suggest the fossils are between 6 and 7 million years old. The fossils display a unique mosaic of primitive and derived characters, and constitute a new genus and species of hominid. The distance from the Rift Valley, and the great antiquity of the fossils, suggest that the earliest members of the hominid clade were more widely distributed than has been thought, and that the divergence between the human and chimpanzee lineages was earlier than indicated by most molecular studies.
Brunet
Michel
M
Faculté des Sciences et CNRS UMR 6046, Université de Poitiers, 40 Avenue du Recteur Pineau, 86022 Poitiers Cedex, France. michel.brunet@univ-poitiers.fr
Guy
Franck
F
Pilbeam
David
D
Mackaye
Hassane Taisso
HT
Likius
Andossa
A
Ahounta
Djimdoumalbaye
D
Beauvilain
Alain
A
Blondel
Cécile
C
Bocherens
Hervé
H
Boisserie
Jean-Renaud
JR
De Bonis
Louis
L
Coppens
Yves
Y
Dejax
Jean
J
Denys
Christiane
C
Duringer
Philippe
P
Eisenmann
Véra
V
Fanone
Gongdibé
G
Fronty
Pierre
P
Geraads
Denis
D
Lehmann
Thomas
T
Lihoreau
Fabrice
F
Louchart
Antoine
A
Mahamat
Adoum
A
Merceron
Gildas
G
Mouchelin
Guy
G
Otero
Olga
O
Pelaez Campomanes
Pablo
P
Ponce De Leon
Marcia
M
Rage
Jean-Claude
JC
Sapanet
Michel
M
Schuster
Mathieu
M
Sudre
Jean
J
Tassy
Pascal
P
Valentin
Xavier
X
Vignaud
Patrick
P
Viriot
Laurent
L
Zazzo
Antoine
A
Zollikofer
Christoph
C
D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002596:Chad; D005580:Fossils; D049690:History, Ancient; D015186:Hominidae / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000145:classification*; D006801:Humans; D007568:Jaw / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D008297:Male; D002679:Pan troglodytes / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D012886:Skull / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D013045:Species Specificity; D013997:Time Factors; D014070:Tooth / Q000033:anatomy & histology