They discover a new human species, Homo luzonensis

Researchers have reported the discovery of a species of hominids unknown up to here, dubbed "Homo luzonensis". Fossils with distinctive features were found in a cave on the Philippine island of Luzon. According to a study published in the journal Nature, the species lived in this region between 50,000 and 67,000 years ago.

During excavations carried out in 2007, 2011 and 2015 in the cave of Callao, seven teeth were discovered, two finger bones, two finger bones and a bone of the upper part of the leg. The remains found provided the earliest direct evidence of human presence in the Philippines. According to the researchers, the remains belong to at least three individuals of this species.

The badysis of the bone of the foot discovered in 2007 suggests that it belonged to the genus Homo, but it was not clear for what species exactly.

The authors of the study specified that other found specimens "exhibit a combination of primitive and derived morphological characteristics different from the combination of features found in other species of the genus Homo", such as " Homo floresiensis "and" Homo sapiens ". "guarantees its attribution to a new species".

The bones of the fingers and toes of the ancient inhabitants of Luzon are curved, suggesting an ability to climb trees comparable to that of hominids two million years or more ago.

The discovery of this species underscores the importance of the island of Southeast Asia in the evolution of the genus Homo, the researchers added. It is the second time in the 21st century that a new species of the human family is discovered on Southeast Asian islands.

Homo luzonensis lived at the same time as the Homo floresiensis, medium-sized hominids that inhabited the Indonesian island of Flores. Homo floresiensis was the first human to inhabit the island about 100,000 to 60,000 years ago. Bones of representatives of this species – nicknamed "hobbits" for their height of only one meter – were found in 2003 in the cave of Liang Bua.

Homo luzonensis was contemporary not only of "hobbits", but also of our species, "Homo sapiens", which appeared in Africa about 300,000 years ago.

The scientists said that they could not rule out the possibility that the arrival of our species in the area has contributed to the disappearance of "Homo luzonensis". The inhabitants of Flores also disappeared about 50,000 years ago, while Homo sapiens was spreading in the area.

Regarding the size of "Homo luzonensis", the researchers think, judging by the size of their teeth, that it was perhaps much smaller than that of "Homo sapiens".

The discoveries of Luzón and Flores show that the history of human evolution is more complicated than previously thought.

RT.