'Abel' is the name given to the first and only specimen ever discovered of ''
Australopithecus bahrelghazali''. Abel was found in January
1995 in
Chad in the
Kanem Region by the
paleontologist Michel Brunet, who named the fossil "Abel" in memory of his close friend Abel Brillanceau, who had died of
malaria in
1989.
Of Abel remains only part of a jaw, which explains the little information descernable concerning its way of life.
The few teeth confirm it to be of the
Australopithecus genus: it has a second
premolar with a broad and molarized crown, not dissimilar to the Lucy fossil, and as such to the ''
Australopithecus afarensis''.
See also
★
List of fossil sites ''(with link directory)''
★
List of hominina (hominid) fossils ''(with images)''