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Homo rudolfensis was formally named as a species in 1986. Before that, it was non-existent, but considered to be a member of Homo habilis. Its type specimen--fossil representative--is KNM-ER 1470, the famous skull discovered by Bernard Ngeneo, a member of Richard Leakey's team. The subsequent discoveries come from the East African Rift Valley and Koobi Fora.
Scientists estimate that its body weight was approximately 50 kg, and that the species was probably sexually dimorphic. Although none of its remains are associated with stone tools, its large brain indicates that it possibly manufactured tools of the early Oldowan tool industry.
The species lived from 2.5 to 1.9 million years ago, overlapping much of Homo habilis' existence. Its browridges were less prominent than in either the australopithecines or Homo species. The face is more prognathic, and the snout is less protruding. There is no sagittal crest; the large zygomatics, as in P. robustus and P. boisei, have disappeared. The molars and the canines and incisors have begun to tend toward the same size. The skull bones were thinner, and was generally more delicate. The cranial capacity is 750 cc. In many respects, H. rudolfensis was a little more advanced than H. habilis. This suggests that H. habilis became a dead-end, while the former gave rise to Homo erectus and all later human species. But it may also mean something else:
"Indeed, it seems in many respects easier to draw a direct connection from habilis to ergaster that bypasses rudolfensis altogether. In this scenario, rudolfensis becomes a remarkable evolutionary offshoot, without known descendants - or perhaps is the earliest specimen of the 'round skulls' that lead to Homo heidelbergensis, in contrast to the 'football skulls' that characterize ergaster and its undisputed descendant, erectus."
Like the Black Skull, Homo rudolfensis has caused paleoanthropologists to alter their views of human origins. There are many questions raised by its naming, which include its relationship to the australopithecines and H. habilis, questions that cannot be answered based only on such scant fossil evidence. Until new finds are made, these questions remain mysteries.
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