Australopithecus Bahrelghazali

Australopithecus bahrelghazali is a hominin species that inhabited the Bahr el Ghazal region in Central Africa around 3.6 million years ago. It was discovered in 1995 by a Franco-Chadian team led by the paleontologist Michel Brunet. All four fossils that have been found since 1995 are jaw (mandibular or maxillar) fragments.

A. bahrelghazali is the only australopithecine species found in Central Africa. It is also of great importance as it is the first fossil to show that there is a geographical "third window", that is, beyond East Africa and South Africa, of early hominin evolution.[1][2] The locality is roughly 2,500 km (1,600 mi) west of the East African Great Rift Valley, making it far removed from what is broadly thought to be the "cradle" area of human evolution.