This fragment of the lower jaw KNMWT-8556 was discovered by Peter Nzube Mutiwa in 1982 from the locality LO5 which is at Lomekwi, west Turkana. This jaw is a partial right mandible with dention. This comes from the same area where additional remains of Kenyanthropus platyops, including KNMWT 40000, KNMWT 40001 and some 31 isolated teeth and lower jaw fragments from other individuals, were discovered between 1982 and 1999 in depostis between 3.5 and 3.2 million years.
The distinctive morphology of the skull KNMWT 40000 is its flattened face, most similar to that of Homo rudolfensis KNMER 1470 and KNMER 62000 that exists 1.5 million years later.
Kenyanthropus platyops is believed to have lived in a mixed habitat of grassland and woodland, similar to sites where Australopithecus afarensis have been found from deposits of a similar age elsewhere.
Leakey M.G. et al. 2001 New hominin genus from eastern Africa shows diverse middle Pliocene lineages. Nature Vol 410:433-440
https://www.fas.harvard.edu/~skeleton/pdfs/2001e.pdf
