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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.”


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Notes

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

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australopithecineAustralopithecus afarensis