The Evolution of Man

[BorneanTiger]

Here is a skull belonging to Australopithecus sediba, which was considered to be ancestral to humans (genus Homo), like Lucy's species (Australopithecus afarensis). The problem is that fossils of the former autralopithecine were dated to about 1.98 million years ago, which is too late to make it ancestral to all members of the genus Homo (which is believed to have appeared over 2 million years ago): https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/04/...man-family

Image by Brett Eloff, Professor Lee R. Berger and Wits University:
   

Lee R. Berger and the cranium of MH1 (Malapa Hominid 1), the type specimen of Australopithecus sediba. Photograph by Brett Eloff, courtesy of Lee Berger and the University of the Witwatersrand (2009):
   

Malapa Hominin 1 (MH1, left), Lucy (AL 288-1, centre), and Malapa Hominin 2 (MH2, right). Image compiled by Peter Schmid, courtesy of Lee R. Berger and the University of the Witwatersrand (8th of September, 2009):
   

Mandibular and dental anatomy in Homo naledi compared to other species of the genus Homo, and Australopithecus sediba. Right demi-mandibles attributed to A. sediba, H. rudolfensis, H. habilis, H. naledi, H. erectus, and H. sapiens are pictured. All mandibles are aligned using the line marking the distal edge of the first molar. Each of the six horizontal lines corresponds to the edges of teeth in the DH1 mandible, the holotype specimen of Homo naledi, with corresponding teeth labelled to the left. Credit: Hawks et al. (19th of May, 2017): https://elifesciences.org/articles/24232
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