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Fossil remains were discovered in Indonesia in 1940’s and initially attributed to Meganthropus palaeojavanicus by Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koenigswald, who believed that Meganthropus was a hominin species. However, this classification was later abandoned, and the Meganthropus remains were considered to be a robust form of Homo erectus. Together with Clément Zanolli from the University of Bordeaux, Ottmar Kullmer from the Senckenberg Research Institute, and Roberto Macchiarelli from the University of Poitiers, we have re-analyse these remains using advanced 3D imaging techniques, to look at the internal tooth morphology and to reconstruct the chewing behaviour of these individuals (image provided by Clément Zanolli).
Our results were quite surprising, because the Meganthropus remains did not look similar to Homo erectus, but closer to other apes. When we compared these remains with other fossil and extant apes, such as orangutans, again Meganthropus remains look a bit different. For these reasons, we confirmed the existence of a new but extinct ape genus, Meganthropus, inhabiting the forests of Java during the Pleistocene together with Homo erectus, orangutans, and most likely Gigantopithecus. A totally unexpected high hominid diversity.
The results have been published this week on the prestigious journal Nature, Ecology & Evolution: link
