Paranthropus aethiopicus is an extinct species of hominid. The fossil was discovered in 1985 in Lake Turkana, Kenya. KNM WT 17000 is known as the "Black Skull" due to the dark colouration of the bone, caused by high levels of manganese. It is one of the earliest examples of robust australopithecines from the Pliocene. The skull is dated to 2.5 million years ago, before the other forms of robust australopithecines. 