EVOLUTIONARY

Evidence of New Human Species, Homo Luzonensis, Found in Philippines

From the remains, scientists determined that this species could walk upright and had “dainty teeth.”

Scientists have recently discovered evidence of a previously unknown 50,000-year-old human species in the Philippines, The Wall Street Journal reports. Researchers reportedly found foot and hand bones, part of a thigh bone, and teeth that they believe belong to the new species—named Homo luzonensis—in the Philippines’ Callao Cave after three years of work. In the journal Nature, the scientists reportedly wrote that the remains belonged to two adults and one child and appear to be a mix of other known human species—including “Homo sapiens, Denisovans, Neanderthals, Homo naledi and Homo floresiensis[.]” They also reportedly determined the species could walk upright with feet “shaped to climb”and had “dainty teeth” in their small jaws. “The molars were so tiny, so small. The pre-molars had two or three roots. I thought, Uh-oh,” paleoanthropologist Florent Detroit said. “This was clearly a human-like something.” According to the Journal, the scientists have yet to find evidence of tools the creatures may have used and are thus far unable to isolate DNA from the remains.