Homo floresiensis
A long-lost cousin has been discovered, Homo floresiensis, or Flores Man. It's especially dramatic for a number of reasons. It's relatively recent, with the youngest specimen only 18,000 years old, but it is most closely related to Homo erectus. This species was also minute, only 3 feet tall, and tiny-brained. Here we have a group of small, specialized human relatives, living contemporaneously with Homo sapiens, on isolated islands in Indonesia. It's like discovering that Munchkins were real. You can read more here:
- Nature has special online section on Flores Man, with several articles on its discovery free to the public.
- Carl Zimmer has a summary of the significance of the discovery.
- More figures from the paper describing the find can be found on Pharyngula.