This means at least two Paranthropus species – P robustus and P capensis – may have coexisted in the South African region 1.4 million years ago, likely inhabiting different ecological niches with varying diets.
A 1.4-million-year-old fossil jaw discovered in a South African cave in 1949 has now been identified as that of a previously unknown human relative species dubbed the “nutcracker man”.
Strange 1.4 million-year-old fossil traced to previously unknown human relative 'nutcracker man‘ ‘Nutcracker man’ likely coexisted with another human relative in southern Africa.
They found the fossil’s teeth features differed from previously discovered specimens of the genus known as P aethiopicus, P boisei and P robustus.
Researchers have believed since the 1960s that the fossil jaw, unearthed at the Swartkrans archaeological site, belonged to an early human species called Homo ergaster.
