Denisovan

1. not comparableOf or pertaining to an extinct grouping of the genus Homo that lived in the Altay Mountains some 41,000 years ago. Of the species Homo longi (“Dragon Man”).

   A molar tooth, measuring around 1.5cm on each side and found at the site in 2000, also belongs to a Denisovan individual.

   2010 December 23, Ian Sample, "Finger Bone Points to New Human Line", The Guardian, international section, page 18

   2 more examples

   Denisovan Man is the first human relative to have been identified purely from DNA, extracted from the bone and a tooth found in the Denisova cave in the Altai mountains of southern Siberia.

   2010 December 23, Hannah Devlin, “Unknown Species of Man Identified from Cave DNA”, in The Times, page 17

   It is the only known place on the planet where three types of humans — Denisovan, Neanderthal and modern — lived, probably not all at once.

   2012 February 1, Alanna Mitchell, “DNA Turning Human Story Into a Tell-All”, in The New York Times, page D1

plural Denisovans

1. A member of an extinct grouping of the genus Homo that lived in the Altay Mountains some 41,000 years ago. A member of the species Homo longi (“Dragon Man”).

   And yet, despite their having the entire genome of a Denisovan, Dr. Paabo cannot say much yet about what they were like.

   2010 December 23, Carl Zimmer, “Scant Remains Reveal Ancient Neanderthal Cousins”, in The New York Times, page A14

   2 more examples

   …this was only the third fossil ever found of a Denisovan, the others being the bit of finger bone and another molar, also from Denisova cave.

   2011 August 26, Ann Gibbons, “Who Were the Denisovans?”, in Science, volume 33, page 1084

   The researchers were even able to split and analyze the two strands of the Denisovan's DNA, and thus differentiate the contributions of each parent.

   2012 August 31, John Lauerman, "Ancient Genome, Modern Brains", The Gazette (Montreal), page A2