Paranthropus robustus
Discovered: 1938
Location: Southern Africa (South Africa)
How many years ago: 1.8 - 1.2 million years
Species characteristics:
Location: Southern Africa (South Africa)
How many years ago: 1.8 - 1.2 million years
Species characteristics:
- Shares the same robust nature of other Paranthropus species
- Huge, broad cheek teeth where most of the chewing was focused on
- Large sagittal crest along the top of the skull provided a large anchor for their massive chewing muscles
- The term 'robust' refers to tooth and face size and not to body size
- An adult skull with a preserved left half of the braincase helps establish a brain size (around 410-530 cc) and also features an almost complete palate (teeth).
- A female skull that exhibits a smaller size along with a smaller crest than other males of this species.