Abel (KT-12/H1) is the name given to the only specimen ever discovered of ''
Australopithecus bahrelghazali
''Australopithecus bahrelghazali'' is an extinct species of australopithecine discovered in 1995 at Koro Toro, Bahr el Gazel, Chad, existing around 3.5 million years ago in the Pliocene. It is the first and only australopithecine known from Ce ...
''. Abel was found in January 1995 in
Chad
Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central Afric ...
in the
Kanem Region
Kanem () is one of the regions of Chad, 23 regions of Chad. It is named after the famous Kanem Empire, which was centred in this vicinity. The region's capital city, capital is Mao, Chad, Mao. It was created in 2002 from the former prefectures ...
by the
paleontologist
Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...
Michel Brunet Michel Brunet may refer to:
* Michel Brunet (historian) (1917–1985), Canadian historian
* Michel Brunet (paleontologist)
Michel Brunet (born April 6, 1940) is a French paleontologist and a professor at the Collège de France between 2008 and 20 ...
,
[Brunet, M., Beauvilain, A., Coppens, Y., Heintz, É., Moutaye, A.H.E et Pilbeam, D. (1995) - "The first australopithecine 2,500 kilometres west of the Rift Valley (Chad)", ''Nature'', 378, pp. 273-275.] who named the fossil "Abel" in memory of his close friend Abel Brillanceau, who had died of
malaria
Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...
in 1989.
Of Abel remains only part of a jaw, which explains the little information discernable concerning its way of life.
The few teeth confirm it to be of the genus ''
Australopithecus
''Australopithecus'' (, ; or (, ) is a genus of early hominins that existed in Africa during the Pliocene and Early Pleistocene. The genera ''Homo'' (which includes modern humans), ''Paranthropus'', and ''Kenyanthropus'' evolved from some ''Aus ...
'': it has a second
premolar
The premolars, also called premolar Tooth (human), teeth, or bicuspids, are transitional teeth located between the Canine tooth, canine and Molar (tooth), molar teeth. In humans, there are two premolars per dental terminology#Quadrant, quadrant in ...
with a broad and molarized crown, not dissimilar to the
Lucy
Lucy is an English language, English feminine given name derived from the Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning ''as of light'' (''born at dawn or daylight'', maybe also ''shiny'', or ''of light complexion''). Alternative spellings ar ...
fossil, and as such to the ''
Australopithecus afarensis
''Australopithecus afarensis'' is an extinct species of australopithecine which lived from about 3.9–2.9 million years ago (mya) in the Pliocene of East Africa. The first fossils were discovered in the 1930s, but major fossil finds would not ta ...
''.
See also
*
List of human evolution fossils
The following tables give an overview of notable finds of Hominini, hominin fossils and Skeleton, remains relating to human evolution, beginning with the formation of the tribe Hominini (the divergence of the Chimpanzee–human last common ancest ...
References
Australopithecus fossils
Prehistoric Chad
{{Chad-stub