In this task, you will be presented with a passage and have to answer a question based on your understanding of the events inferred from the passage. Try to find the best answer that is most likely to fill in "_". Note that the URLs in the text have been replaced with [Link].

The first early human ancestors to leave Africa were scrawny little creatures that walked more like apes, according to a new study that is challenging existing theories on the origin of our species. For years it was thought that the first early human to walk from the African continent into Asia and Europe was the tall and muscular Homo erectus. But new analysis of early human fossils has suggested it may have actually been a far more diminutive species known as Homo habilis, or 'Handy man', that first made the journey. The findings are likely to be highly controversial as no fossils belonging to Homo habilis have been discovered outside Africa.New analysis of early human fossils has challenged conventional theoriesMost experts believe tall, muscular Homo erectus was first to leave AfricaThe new study suggests Homo habilis, known as Handy Man, beat themIt suggests Homo erectus did not evolve in Africa but moved there later 
 Question:'A pre-_ erectus origin for Homo floresiensis implies that an earlier Homo was the first species of hominin to leave Africa.
Homo erectus