“Dragon Man” May Replace Neanderthal as Our Closest Relative

A massive, well-preserved skull discovered in China in the 1930s belongs to a new species called Homo longi, researchers report, but experts remain skeptical about the evidence.

Written byAmanda Heidt

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An artist's rendering of a new species of Homo, H. longi

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ABOVE: An artist’s rendering of the Dragon Man, Homo longi, a proposed new species found in China
CHUANG ZHAO

A trio of papers, published today (June 25) in The Innovation, makes the case for a new species of Homo, H. longi, or the “Dragon Man,” that would replace Neanderthals as modern humans’ closest relative.

The single cranium used to describe the species—the largest of any hominin and remarkably well-preserved for being at least 146,000 years old—has a murky history that some experts say limits what conclusions can be drawn about it, but it does add to anthropologists’ understanding of human evolution in Asia during the latter half of the middle Pleistocene, an important period in human expansion.

“We got such an amazing, complete cranium, and it provided very important information for us to understand the evolution of Homo as a genus,” says Xijun Ni, a paleoanthropologist at the Chinese Academy of ...

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An artist's depiction of a new species of Homo, H. longi

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Amanda Heidt
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Amanda first began dabbling in scicom as a master’s student studying marine science at Moss Landing Marine Labs, where she edited the student blog and interned at a local NPR station. She enjoyed that process of demystifying science so much that after receiving her degree in 2019, she went straight into a second master’s program in science communication at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Formerly an intern at The Scientist, Amanda joined the team as a staff reporter and editor in 2021 and oversaw the publication’s internship program, assigned and edited the Foundations, Scientist to Watch, and Short Lit columns, and contributed original reporting across the publication. Amanda’s stories often focus on issues of equity and representation in academia, and she brings this same commitment to DEI to the Science Writers Association of the Rocky Mountains and to the board of the National Association of Science Writers, which she has served on since 2022. She is currently based in the outdoor playground that is Moab, Utah. Read more of her work at www.amandaheidt.com.
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