Paranthropus robustus

Synonyms

Australopithecus robustus

Definition

An extinct species (Paranthropus, meaning “beside-human”; robustus, “strongly built”) of South African hominins – bipedal human relatives from the Pleistocene Epoch (ca. 2.2–1.5 million years ago), possessing a small brain, small incisors and canines, and large postcanine dentition, considered a side branch of the human phylogenetic tree.

Introduction

Early in the twentieth century (the 1920s–1930s), three important discoveries were made in Southern Africa: the Taung Child – the first known Australopithecus; an adult specimen from Sterkfontein (then named Plesianthropus); and Paranthropusfrom Kromdraai. The latter discovery, together with later found similar fossils from Swartkrans, led to the understanding that not all “ape-men” (as they were called) were ancestors of humans, i.e., early on in the evolutionary history of hominins, a branching event occurred, from which two evolutionary lineages arose: one leading to us, humans, the other...