Homo luzonensis

Homo luzonensis Temporal range: late Middle Pleistocene to Late Pleistocene, 0.134–0.049 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
CCH6a–e, molar and premolar teeth dated around 49,200 years ago
CCH1, a 67,000 year old third metatarsal bone
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Primates
Suborder:	Haplorhini
Infraorder:	Simiiformes
Family:	Hominidae
Subfamily:	Homininae
Tribe:	Hominini
Genus:	Homo
Species:	†H. luzonensis
Binomial name
Homo luzonensis Détroit et al., 2019

Homo luzonensis is the name given to some fossil bones and teeth belonging to a hominin. The place of discovery was Callao Cave in the north of Luzon, a large island in the Philippines. The name "luzonensis" refers to this location.

The remains are about 120,000 to 148,000 years old. Researchers think they are from a hitherto unknown species. At least one expert, Aida Gómez-Robles, "is hesitant to unequivocally say the find represents a new species".

Discovery

The archaeologist who found the remains is Armand Mijares. He had dug in Callao Cave in 2003, but he stopped at a little more than one meter deep. He said that the discovery of Homo floresiensis, a hominin from about 50,000 BP found in Indonesia in 2004, led him to return to the cave in 2007. About a meter and a half below where he had stopped before, his team found fossil bones. One of the bones was a human metatarsal, a foot bone.

At first, Mijares thought the fossil bone could belong to a small Homo sapiens. But after more digging in 2011 and 2015, he and his team recovered more bones and some teeth. The remains belonged to three individuals. Scientists working on the material thought remains were too different to belong to Homo sapiens. Therefore, they said it is a new species.

References