Australopithecus bahrelghazali
The species designation of Australopithecus bahrelghazali is a new one, currently gaining more and more support among scientists.  Arguments against the case for it being its own species are based upon its resemblances to Australopithecus afarensis.  A. bahrelghazali was discovered by Michel Brunet in 1993, in the ancient riverbed of Bahr el Ghazal in Chad, located 2,500 kilometers west of the East African Rift Valley. This is currently the first and only australopithecine specimen to be found in North-Central Africa, and is also the furthest west of any specimen found to date.  Australopithecus bahrelghazali dates to between 3.0 and 3.5 million years ago.  
   

The Fossils:

   
From Bahr el Ghazal, Chad    

KT-12   Mandible

~Found in 1995 by Michel Brunet at the site of Bahr el Ghazal, Chad

~Dated to between 3.0 - 3.5 million years

~This is the type specimen for A. bahrelghazali

picture credit
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A. ramidus ~ A. anamensis ~ A. afarensis ~ A. africanus ~ A. gahri ~ A. bahrelghazali ~ P. boisei ~ P. aethiopicus ~ P. robustus ~ H. habilis ~ H. rudolfensis ~ H. erectus ~ H. ergaster ~ H. antecessor ~ H. heidelbergensis ~ H. neanderthalensis ~ H. sapiens

Southern Africa ~ Eastern Africa ~ North Central Africa ~ Asia ~ Europe/Northwestern Africa

Steven Heslip ~ 2001 ~ heslipst@msu.edu