Reports from Ethiopia say the remains of a 3.4-million-year-old hominid, or ape-man, have been discovered.

Palaeoanthropologist Dr Zeresenay Alemseged told reporters in Addis Ababa that researchers had uncovered a fragment of a lower jaw and an exceptionally well-preserved partial skeleton, including the skull.

It was probably a child, he said, and should provide valuable information in the study of human evolution.

The fossil remains were found in the Busidina-Dikika sector of the Afar region, in an area bordering the Republic of Djibouti. Busidina-Dukika lies south of Hadar, where numerous fossils of Austrolopithecus Afarensis, including the famous Lucy specimen, have been discovered.

"This is probably the earliest well-preserved young hominid so far known,'' Dr Zeresenay Alemseged said.

"The new hominid is an important addition which may fill in the gap between Lucy, which is dated to 3.2 million years, and a similar hominid species from Laetoli, Tanzania, and dated to 3.7 million years.''

Dr Alemseged is a post-doctoral research associate at the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University, US.