Editing Paranthropus (section)

====''P. aethiopicus''====
[[File:Paranthropus Africa.jpg|thumb|Locations of ''Paranthropus'' finds]]
In 1968, French palaeontologists [[Camille Arambourg]] and [[Yves Coppens]] described "''Paraustralopithecus aethiopicus''" based on a toothless mandible from the [[Shungura Formation]], Ethiopia (Omo 18).<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Arambourg|first1=C.|author-link=Camille Arambourg|first2=Y.|last2=Coppens|author-link2=Yves Coppens|year=1968|title=Sur la decouverte dans le Pleistocene inferieur de la valle de l'Omo (Ethiopie) d'une mandibule d'Australopithecien|language=fr|trans-title=On the discovery in the Lower Pleistocene Omo Valley (Ethiopia) of an Australopithecine Mandible|journal=Comptes Rendus des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences|volume=265|pages=589–590}}</ref> In 1976, American anthropologist [[Francis Clark Howell]] and Breton anthropologist [[Yves Coppens]] reclassified it as ''A. africanus''.<ref name=Ferguson1989/> In 1986, after the discovery of the skull [[KNM WT 17000]] by English anthropologist [[Alan Walker (anthropologist)|Alan Walker]] and [[Richard Leakey]] classified it into ''Paranthropus'' as ''[[P. aethiopicus]]''.<ref>{{cite journal|first1=A.|last1=Walker|author-link=Alan Walker (anthropologist)|first2=R. E.|last2=Leakey|author2-link=Richard Leakey|first3=J. M.|last3=Harris|first4=F. H.|last4=Brown|year=1986|title=2.5-Myr Australopithecus boisei from west of Lake Turkana, Kenya|journal=Nature|volume=322|issue=6079|pages=517–522|doi=10.1038/322517a0|bibcode=1986Natur.322..517W|s2cid=4270200}}</ref> There is debate whether this is synonymous with ''P. boisei'',<ref name=Constantino2007/> the main argument for separation being the skull seems less adapted for chewing tough vegetation.<ref name=Wood2007/><ref name=Wood2000/>

In 1989, palaeoartist and zoologist [[Walter Ferguson]] reclassified KNM WT 17000 into a new species, ''walkeri'', because he considered the skull's species designation questionable as it comprised the skull whereas the holotype of ''P. aethiopicus'' comprised only the mandible.<ref name=Ferguson1989>{{cite journal|first=W. W.|last=Ferguson|author-link=Walter Ferguson|year=1989|title=A New Species of the Genus ''Australopithecus'' (Primates: Hominidae) from Plio/Pleistocene Deposits West of Lake Turkana in Kenya|journal=Primates|volume=30|issue=2|pages=223–232|doi=10.1007/BF02381307|s2cid=28642451}}</ref> Ferguson's classification is almost universally ignored,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=440TmWXToLAC&pg=PT298|first=B.|last=Wood|title=Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Human Evolution|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|pages=298–299|isbn=978-1-4443-4247-5|year=2011}}</ref> and is considered to be synonymous with ''P. aethiopicus''.<ref>{{cite book|first1=R.|last1=Leakey|author-link=Richard Leakey|first2=R.|last2=Lewin|author-link2=Roger Lewin|year=1993|title=Origins Reconsidered: In Search of what Makes Us Human|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KQULA9F9--IC&pg=PA362|publisher=Anchor Books|pages=132–133|isbn=978-0-385-46792-6}}</ref>