Homo cepranensis

Homo cepranensis
Temporal range: Pleistocene, 0.5–0.35Ma
Holotype skull
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Family: Hominidae
Genus: Homo
Species: H. cepranensis
Binomial name
Homo cepranensis
Mallegni et al., 2003

Homo cepranensis is a proposed name for a human species known from only one skull cap discovered in 1994.[1] The fossil was discovered by archeologist Italo Biddittu and was nicknamed "Ceprano Man" after a nearby town in the province of Frosinone, 89 kilometers Southeast of Rome, Italy.[2]

The fossil is estimated to be between 350,000 to 500,000 years old.[3] As an adjacent site, Fontana Ranuccio, was dated to 487,000 +/- 6,000 years, Muttoni et al. suggest that Ceprano is most likely 450,000 years old. The cranial features on the bone seem to be intermediate between those found on Homo erectus and those of later species, such as Homo heidelbergensis, that dominated Europe long before Homo neanderthalensis. A 2011 study suggested that it was ancestral to Homo neanderthalensis.[4] There is not yet enough material to make a complete analysis of the individual.

References

  1. Mallegni, F (2003). "Homo cepranensis sp. nov. and the evolution of African-European Middle Pleistocene hominids". Comptes Rendus Palevol 2 (2): 153–159. doi:10.1016/S1631-0683(03)00015-0. ISSN 1631-0683.
  2. Manzi, G; Mallegni, F; Ascenzi, A (2001). "A cranium for the earliest Europeans: Phylogenetic position of the hominid from Ceprano, Italy". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 98 (17): 10011–10016. doi:10.1073/pnas.151259998. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 55569. PMID 11504953.
  3. Muttoni, Giovanni; Scardia, Giancarlo; Kent, Dennis V.; Swisher, Carl C.; Manzi, Giorgio (2009). "Pleistocene magnetochronology of early hominin sites at Ceprano and Fontana Ranuccio, Italy". Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 286 (Early online): 255. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2009.06.032.
  4. http://www.ploscollections.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0018821;jsessionid=4A4B8A5E7DD12BC3E642D5AE30B80069.ambra02