Australopithecus, noun
- Origin:
- modern Latin, GreekShow more Name coined by R.A. Dart, modern Latin australis southern + Greek píthēkos ape (see Dart quotation, 1925).
An extinct genus of small-brained, bipedal hominids living in southern and eastern Africa between one and four million years ago. Also attributive. See also Mrs Ples, Saldanha sense 2.
1925 Star 5 Feb.Why was ‘Australopithecus africanus’ something that was ceasing to be an animal but could not be described as the ‘Pithecanthropus erectus’ of Java has been, as something which was becoming a man?
1994 S. Armstrong in Sunday Times 18 Sept. 22Professor Dart claimed the Taung child — which he named Australopithecus africanus — was the missing link between apes and man.
An extinct genus of small-brained, bipedal hominids living in southern and eastern Africa between one and four million years ago. Also attributive.
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