Australopithecus garhi

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

noun

1. an extinct species of early hominin whose fossil remains were discovered in Ethiopia in 1990, along with some of the oldest known stone tools, dated at about 2.5 million years of age: there are few skeletal findings, but a femur longer than that of other Australopithecus specimens suggests a transition to longer bipedal strides.
2. a fossil belonging to this species.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Australopithecus garhi¹

Australopithecus ( def ) + Afar garhi “surprise”; coined in 1997 by Ethiopian paleoanthropologist Yohannes Haile-Selassie Ambaye (born 1961)

Example Sentences

"Australopithecus garhi is the best candidate thus far," he concedes, but he doesn't rule out the possibility that another species, yet undiscovered, deserves the credit.

From Time Magazine Archive

Several years later, White and his team unearthed yet another creature, 2.5 million-year-old Australopithecus garhi, which filled a crucial gap in the human lineage and was associated with the earliest evidence of butchering animals.

From Time Magazine Archive