Genus Pananthropus
Paranthropus comes from the Greek for 'beside human'.
Paranthropus aethiopicus
The earliest of the robust hominids, aethiopicus has been found at Lake Turkana and in Ethiopia. The most famous specimen is The Black Skull which was stained black during the fossilization process. Paranthropus aethiopicus is dated to between 2.5 to 2.3 m.y.a. and used its massive teeth and jaws used to process low-nutritional plant material found on the savanna.
Paranthropus boisei
Specimens recovered from Lake Turkana, Kenya and the Olduvai George, Tanzania, were originally classified as Zinjanthropus by Louis Leakey in 1959 -- it was also the first hominid found outside of South Africa.
Paranthropus boisei is dated to between 2 and 1.2 m.y.a. and probably evolved from aethiopicus. Massive jaws and molars, largest of any hominid, led to the common name of Nutcracker Man.
Paranthropus robustus
The South African form of robust hominid first discovered by Robert Broom in the 1940s at Kromdraai near Sterkfontein. Paranthropus robustus is dated to between 1.9 and 1.3 m.y.a. There is a controversy over the origins of robustus which is a contemporary of the East African boisei -- if it evolved from africanus rather than aethiopicus, as is claimed by many South African paleoanthropologists, it should have a separate genus to the East African robusts, i.e. it is not a Paranthropus.
Paranthropus aethiopicus
The earliest of the robust hominids, aethiopicus has been found at Lake Turkana and in Ethiopia. The most famous specimen is The Black Skull which was stained black during the fossilization process. Paranthropus aethiopicus is dated to between 2.5 to 2.3 m.y.a. and used its massive teeth and jaws used to process low-nutritional plant material found on the savanna.
Paranthropus boisei
Specimens recovered from Lake Turkana, Kenya and the Olduvai George, Tanzania, were originally classified as Zinjanthropus by Louis Leakey in 1959 -- it was also the first hominid found outside of South Africa.
Paranthropus boisei is dated to between 2 and 1.2 m.y.a. and probably evolved from aethiopicus. Massive jaws and molars, largest of any hominid, led to the common name of Nutcracker Man.
Paranthropus robustus
The South African form of robust hominid first discovered by Robert Broom in the 1940s at Kromdraai near Sterkfontein. Paranthropus robustus is dated to between 1.9 and 1.3 m.y.a. There is a controversy over the origins of robustus which is a contemporary of the East African boisei -- if it evolved from africanus rather than aethiopicus, as is claimed by many South African paleoanthropologists, it should have a separate genus to the East African robusts, i.e. it is not a Paranthropus.
