Homo floresiensis
Indonesia is in the news today due to the discovery on the eastern Indonesian island of Flores of a descendant of Homo erectus now named Homo florensis. What makes this discovery so compelling is that this new species seems to have lived until historic times, 13,000 years ago at least, and maybe even into more recent times. That would make it the only species known to have coexisted with modern humans for sure in modern times. The CNN article gives more information.
I read that earlier today. They were tiny people, barely more than three feet tall! Amazing news, especially as it coincides with the announcement out of St. Louis this evening of the discovery of Bosox Serieschampsis-Excursus, which appears to be a direct descendant of Bosox Championes, long thought to be extinct.
Good Scientific American interview here: http://www.sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=00082F87-7D35-117E-BD3583414B7F0000
That is a good article. It also points out that Tom spelled the species name wrong at first.
I cannot believe I missed an opportunity to nail Tom for a spelling mistake. What a fool I’ve been!
Dude, so did I!