Berger et al. (2010) establshed the name Australopithecus sediba, with the MH 1 partial skeleton as the holotype, to accommodate new fossil discovereis from the site of Malapa, South Africa. A paratype was designated MH2 from the same site in September of 2008. The name sediba itself comes from the local Sesotho word meaning “fountain” or “wellspring” (Berger et al., 2010). Berger and his team proposed that Au. sediba could be the immediate ancestor of the Homo genus based on the traits described above. However remains from the Drimolen cave in South Africa that have been attributed to Homo erectus and Paranthropus robustus were dated to be contemporaneous with the determined time frame of Au. sediba (Herries et al., 2020).
