Telanthropus

[ tuh-lan-thruh-puhs, tel-an-throh-puhs ]

noun

1. a former genus of fossil hominins, known from two fragmentary lower jaws found in the region of Swartkrans, near Johannesburg, South Africa, during 1949–1950, and now considered a specimen of the proposed species Homo erectus.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Telanthropus¹

First recorded in 1945–50; from New Latin; tel(e)- ² + Greek ánthrōpos “human being, man”