Mrs Ples, noun
- Origin:
- EnglishShow more English Mrs + abbreviation of generic name Plesianthropus.
A nickname given to the skull of an Australopithecine man-ape of the lower Pleistocene period, found in 1947 at Sterkfontein in the former Transvaal (now in the province called Gauteng). See also Australopithecus.
1959 J.D. Clark Prehist. of S. Afr. 62The skull was that of a female and had come to be affectionately known as ‘Mrs Ples’...Broom said, ‘I have seen many interesting sights in my life, but this was the most thrilling.’
1989 Reader’s Digest Illust. Hist. of S. Afr. 16He found the almost perfectly preserved cranium of a female specimen, nicknamed ‘Mrs Ples,’ that had lived some 2,5-million years ago. Later, Mrs Ples and others of her genus were to be reclassified as Australopithicus africanus.
A nickname given to the skull of an Australopithecine man-ape of the lower Pleistocene period, found in 1947 at Sterkfontein in the former Transvaal (now in the province called Gauteng).
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