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Paranthropus aethiopicus was discovered in 1967 by two French scientists named Camille Arambourg and Yves Coppens, at a site named Koobi Fora. Because only one tooth-less mandible was associated with this species, it was initially named Paraustralopithecus aethiopicus ("near Australopithecus"). Nevertheless, it remained unrecognized because of the extremely small amount of evidence that supported it. However, in 1985, an almost complete skull was discovered by Alan Walker at Lake Turkana, named the Black Skull, because of manganese salts that gave the fossil a blackish color during fossillization. This revolutionary new find caused the genus "Paraustralopithecus" to be dropped, and the skull to be named "Australopithecus aethiopicus." Recently, at an anthropology conference, it was decided that all the robust australopithecines should be relocated to a separate genus, dubbed Paranthropus, so as to give some distinction between the two former types of Australopithecus.
Evidently, it was neither Paranthropus robustus nor boisei. It had a larger sagittal crest than either of them. Its brain case was also more primitive and so were the features on it. Its cranial capacity was about 410 cc, one of the smallest of all hominids. However, its facial shape was strikingly boisei-like, with a dish-shaped face and enormous molars. It was blatantly something between the paranthropines and australopithecines. This unexpected and new set of features caused our family tree to be reconsidered and redrawn.
In the first hypothesis, A. afarensis gives rise to the Homo line on the one hand and A. africanus on the other. A. africanus then diverges to P. robustus and P. boisei. In the second hypothesis, A. afarensis evolves into A. africanus and goes extinct. Then, A. africanus diverges into Homo on one hand and P. robustus and P. boisei on the other. In the third hypothesis, the younger Hadar specimens give rise to A. africanus and then Homo; while the earlier Hadar and Laetoli hominids produce the paranthropines. In the fourth hypothesis, A. afarensis gives rise to both A. africanus and P. aethiopicus. The former splits into P. robustus and Homo, and the latter evolving directly into P. boisei. Finally, the fifth hypothesis says that A. afarensis gave rise to A. africanus and Homo on one side, and P. aethiopicus on the other. Then, P. aethiopicus further diverges into P. robustus and boisei.
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