Overall, the Harbin cranium shows a distinctive combination of apomorphic and plesiomorphic features. These features present a clear diagnosis, supporting the Harbin cranium as a new species of Homo, which is distinctive from other designated Middle-Late Pleistocene human taxa, such as H. sapiens, H. erectus, H. neanderthalensis, and H. heidelbergensis/rhodesiensis.
The Dali cranium was initially proposed as a subspecies of H. sapiens (H. s. daliensis) by Xinzhi Wu, but Wu abandoned the subspecies name and called the cranium “archaic H. sapiens” in his later publications.3 It was also suggested to be a subspecies of H. heidelbergensis (H. h. daliensis),4 or should be raised to the species level (H. daliensis).5 The Hualongdong cranium shows a lot of interesting similarities with the Dali cranium. Based on our morphological comparisons and the phylogenetic analyses,1
we suggest that both the Dali and Hualongdong crania should be referred to H. daliensis. The Harbin cranium, on the other hand, shows clear diagnostic features differing from the Dali and Hualongdong crania. Here, we raise a new species name for the Harbin cranium to reflect these significant differences. Given the sister-group relationship between the Harbin cranium and the Xiahe mandible,1 it is possible that both specimens belong to H. longi sp. nov. Further human fossils from the Middle Pleistocene of China and neighboring areas will test this idea.