: an extinct Pleistocene hominid known from a single skull found in southern Africa that has a large flattened cranium and prominent brow ridge
The systematic status of Florisbad itself may remain uncertain, but for (all) the other fossils, H. sapiens is the appropriate taxonomic designation.—G. Philip Rightmire, The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 22 Sept. 2009
—often used before another noun
Florisbad man
The Florisbad fossil lacks a bipartite brow, having instead a continuous supraorbital surface that thins laterally.—Jeffrey H. Schwartz and Ian Tattersall, The Human Fossil Record, 2005
Note:
Florisbad man was originally described as a separate species (Homo helmei or Africanthropus helmei) and now is variously considered its own species or an early type of Homo sapiens.
Word History
Etymology
from Florisbad, village near Bloemfontein, Union of South Africa
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