WASHINGTON: Australopithecus deyiremeda was a hominid who walked the Earth at the same time as the well-known Australopithecine Lucy. Fossils of the previously unknown species have been discovered in Ethiopia, adding to the diversity of known human ancestors.
Fossils of teeth and jaws from at least three individuals were discovered within clay in the Afar region of that nation. Although some characteristics of the fossils were similar to other predecessors of Homo sapiens, the samples were recognized as belonging to a previously unknown species of human ancestor.
The newly discovered species possessed both human-like and ape-like qualities, as did Australopithecus afarensis, the species to which Lucy belonged. Based on the relatively small size of the teeth discovered, researchers believe that A. deyiremeda looked more like modern humans than did Lucy and members of her species. Each of these human ancestors lived between 3.5 and 3 million years before our own time.
This discovery marks the first time that two different species of human ancestors were found to be living together at the same time and place before the evolution of our own genus, Homo.
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