Australopithecus
pronunciation
How to pronounce Australopithecus in British English:
UK [ˌɒstrələʊˈpɪθɪkəs]
How to pronounce Australopithecus in American English:
US [ˌɔstrələʊˈpɪθɪkəs]
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- Noun:
- extinct genus of African hominid
Word Origin
- Australopithecus (n.)
- 1925, coined by Australian anthropologist Raymond A. Dart (1893-1988) from Latin australis "southern" (see Australia) + Greek pithekos "ape." So called because first discovered in South Africa.
Example
- 1. And our australopithecus afarensis ancestors apparently felt the same way .
- 2. She belonged to a species called australopithecus afarensis , which is believed to be ancestral to modern man .
- 3. The new species , dubbed australopithecus sediba , is reported in science this week by lee berger and his colleagues at the university of the witwatersrand , in johannesburg .
- 4. Lucy , also found in africa , thrived a million years after ardi and was of the more human-like genus australopithecus .