| Ardipithecus kadabba Temporal range: Messinian,
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|---|---|
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Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Suborder: | Haplorhini |
| Infraorder: | Simiiformes |
| Family: | Hominidae |
| Subfamily: | Homininae |
| Tribe: | Hominini |
| Genus: | †Ardipithecus |
| Species: | †A. kadabba
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| Binomial name | |
| †Ardipithecus kadabba Haile-Selassie, 2001
| |
Ardipithecus kadabba is the scientific classification given to fossil remains "known only from teeth and bits and pieces of skeletal bones",[1] originally estimated to be 5.8 to 5.2 million years old, and later revised to 5.77 to 5.54 million years old.[2] According to the first description, these fossils are close to the common ancestor of chimps and humans. Their development lines are estimated to have parted 6.5–5.5 million years ago. It has been described as a "probable chronospecies" (i.e. ancestor) of A. ramidus. Although originally considered a subspecies of A. ramidus, in 2004 anthropologists Yohannes Haile-Selassie, Gen Suwa, and Tim D. White published an article elevating A. kadabba to species level on the basis of newly discovered teeth from Ethiopia. These teeth show "primitive morphology and wear pattern" which demonstrate that A. kadabba is a distinct species from A. ramidus.
The specific name comes from the Afar word for "basal family ancestor".[3]
- ^ Gibbons, Ann (2009). "A New Kind of Ancestor: Ardipithecus Unveiled" (PDF). Science. 326 (5949): 36–40. Bibcode:2009Sci...326...36G. doi:10.1126/science.326_36. PMID 19797636.
- ^ Webseite von Yohannes Haile-Selassie Archived 2015-09-20 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Ellis, Richard (2004). No Turning Back: The Life and Death of Animal Species. New York: Harper Perennial. pp. 92. ISBN 0-06-055804-0.