Homo rudolfensis

Homo rudolfensis is an extinct species of archaic human from the Early Pleistocene of East Africa, about 2 million years ago. The first fossils were found in 1972 along Lake Turkana, then called Lake Rudolf, in Kenya, and were described by Richard Leakey the following year. The lectotype is the large skull KNM-ER 1470, with a brain volume of about 750 cubic centimetres. No bodily remains are definitely assigned to the species, and because it coexisted with several other hominins it is debated which specimens belong to it. Both its genus and its validity are disputed: some researchers place it in Australopithecus or Kenyanthropus, and others consider it the same as the contemporary Homo habilis, with its larger skulls being males of that species. It is distinguished from H. habilis by larger size, large cheek teeth and thick enamel. Estimates based on H. habilis suggest males of about 160 centimetres and 60 kilograms. It is not associated with any tools.