'Dragon Man' claimed as potential new human species after analysis of China skull

A large fossilized skull discovered in China in 1933 may be a new species of ancient human, scientists said on Friday. 

In a summary of one of three papers, the group wrote that the well-preserved artifact's massive size and large cranial capacity fall in the range of modern humans but is combined with "a mosaic of primitive and derived characters." "It differs from all the other named Homo species by presenting a combination of features, such as long and low cranial vault, a wide and low face, large and almost square orbits, gently curved but massively developed supraorbital torus, flat and low cheekbones with a shallow canine fossa, and a shallow palate with thick alveolar bone supporting very large molars," the group said, noting that the skull "advances" human understanding of several other less-complete fossils from China in the late Middle Pleistocene that had been interpreted as local "evolutionary intermediates" between Homo erectus and Homo sapiens.