Ardipithecus kadabba
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Ardipithecus kadabba Temporal range: Late Miocene - Early Pliocene, 5.8–5.2 Ma |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Family: | Hominidae |
| Subfamily: | Homininae |
| Genus: |
Ardipithecus White, 1994 |
| Species: | A. kadabba |
| Binomial name | |
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Ardipithecus kadabba Haile-Selassie, 2001 |
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Ardipithecus kadabba is the scientific classification given to fossil remains "known only from teeth and bits and pieces of skeletal bones," originally estimated to be 5.8 to 5.2 million years old, and later revised to 5.77 to 5.54 million years. 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".
The name of the genus, Ardipithecus, is partly derived from the Afar language (ardi = soil) and partly from the Greek language (from "πίθηκος," ancient Greek pronounced "píthēkos" = monkey). The epithet 'kadabba' comes from Afar and refers to the father of a family. Ardipithecus kadabba accordingly means mutatis mutandis "progenitor of the ground ape."
The first description suggested that Ardipithecus kadabba lived in a habitat that consisted of forests, wooded savannas, and open water areas, as had been described for Sahelanthropus.
The type specimen is a right mandibular fragment with a resulting molar (M3) and five tooth or root fragments with the inventory number ALA-VP-2/10. The first description, in 2001, also relied on other bone finds that have been excavated since 1992 from five sites in the Afar Depression, Ethiopia, and are from ten other individuals. In the first description by Yohannes Haile-Selassie, Ardipithecus kadabba was, however, recognized as a subspecies of Ardipithecus ramidus termed "kadabba". In 2004 Ardipithecus kadabba was designated in a joint publication of Haile-Selassie and Tim White.
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