Fossils suggest new species from human genus
Homo naledi bones found in South African cave
By Bruce Bower
Fossils retrieved from an underground cave in South Africa may represent a previously unknown species of the human genus, Homo.
The fossils come from at least 15 individuals recovered from a 30-meter-deep pit, says a team led by paleoanthropologist Lee Berger of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. The skeletal remains display a novel mix of humanlike features and more apelike traits characteristic of 2-million- to 4-million-year-old hominids from the genus Australopithecus, the researchers report September 10 in eLife.