Australopithecus

[ aw-strey-loh-pith-i-kuhs, -puh-thee-kuhs, aw-struh-loh- ]

noun

1. an extinct genus of small-brained, large-toothed bipedal hominins that lived in Africa between one and four million years ago: the genus Homo, to which modern humans belong, is believed to have evolved from this genus or to have shared a common ancestor.

Australopithecus

1. An extinct genus of the hominid family that lived in Africa from about three to one million years ago. The name means “southern ape.”

Notes

Members of this genus were the ancestors of modern humans. One of the best-known fossils, Lucy , was a member of this genus.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Australopithecus¹

First recorded in 1920–25; from New Latin: literally “southern ape,” equivalent to austrāl(is) “southern” + -o- connecting vowel + pithēcus “ape,” from Greek píthēkos. See austral ¹, -o-,

Example Sentences

In the early 1960s, the Leakeys’ team recovered fossils of a hominin that lived at roughly the same time as Zinjanthropus but had smaller, more humanlike teeth and a brain notably bigger than that of both Zinjanthropus and Australopithecus.

From Science News