Flipperpithecus

"Flipperithecus" was the name of the "humanoid species" arising from a fossil find that is most likely part of dolphin's rib. The name "Flipperithecus" was given by anthropologist Dr. Tim White and reported in Science News.

"Flipperithecus" was the name of the "humanoid species" arising from a fossil find that is most likely part of dolphin's rib. The name "Flipperithecus" was given by anthropologist Dr. Tim White and reported in Science News

The science journal New Scientist reported the following:

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"A five million-year-old piece of bone that was thought to be a collarbone of a humanlike creature is actually part of a dolphin rib according to an anthropologist at the University of California-Berkeley." - Ian Anderson, "Hominoid collarbone exposed as dolphin's rib", in New Scientist, 28 April 1983, page 199

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Dr. Tim White, anthropologist at the University of California-Berkeley likened the incident on par with the "Nebraska man" and "Piltdown Man" incidents. Dr. White stated regarding the fossil find, "Seldom has a bone been hyped as much as this one." Dr. Noel Boaz from New York University has countered, "I have not gone any further than the evidence allowed." However, at a meeting of physical anthropologist his fellow anthropologist were skeptical of the find some stating that at first glance the bone looks nothing like a collar bone. Dr. White stated that "to be a clavicle, the specimen should have an S...curve, but it does not. Dr. White also stated the blunder may force a "rethink of theories" amoung evolutionary theorists on when the line of man's ancestors separated from that of apes.

Dr. White added "The problem with a lot of anthropologists is that they want so much to find a hominid that any scrap of bone becomes a hominid bone."According to Science News the find of Dr. Boaz has "sparked much discussion about anthropologists' overzealous pursuit of human ancestory." Dr. White has dubbed the "humanoid species" arising from the fossil find "Flipperithecus".