Kenyanthropus platyops

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Flat-Faced Man of Kenya

Conservation status: Fossil

<tr><td>Kingdom:<td>Animalia <tr><td>Phylum:<td>Chordata <tr><td>Class:<td>Mammalia <tr><td>Order:<td>Primates <tr><td>Family:<td>Hominidae <tr><td>Subfamily:<td>Homininae <tr><td>Genus:<td>Kenyanthropus <tr><td>Species:<td>platyops </table> <tr><th bgcolor=pink>Binomial name <tr><td align="center">Kenyanthropus platyops </table> Kenyanthropus is a 3.5 - 3.2 million year old extinct Hominid genus that was discovered in Lake Turkana, Kenya in 1999 by Meave Leaky. The fossil found features of a broad flat face with a toe bone that suggests it probably walked upright. Teeth are intermediate between typical human and typical ape forms. There is only one described species (Kenyanthropus platyops which means "Flat faced man of Kenya"). However, if some paleoanthropologists are correct (Tim White, 2003), Kenyanthropus may not even represent a valid taxon, as the specimen (KNM-WT 40000) is so horribly distorted by matrix-filled cracks that meaningful morphologic characters are next to impossible to robustly assess. It may simply be a specimen of Australopithecus afarensis, which is known from the same time period and geographic area.

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