Scientists busy working in South Africa have reportedly managed to discover the skeletal remains of a new species of the ancient human race. As many as two partial skeletons of an adult female and a child have been discovered in miners' remains in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site.

Christened Australopithecus sediba, the new species seems to sport the features of the earlier bipedal apes and the relatively more recent species of early Homo, as has been shared by the scientists.

Through two recent reports published in the journal Science, it has been seen that the newly discovered species was an upright walker and also shared various physical traits with the earliest known species of man.

While discoverers have stressed that the fossils of the species, found in the Malapa Cave, reflect a "transitional species in human evolution", many critics have said that they are exaggerating.

More studies are currently on which are looking into the fossils.