Ardipithecus kadabba

[ ahr-duh-pith-i-kuhs kuh-dah-buh, ahr-duh-puh-thee-kuhs ]

noun

1. an extinct species of early hominin whose fossil remains were discovered in Ethiopia in 1997 and have been dated at about 5.6–5.8 million years of age: named as a distinct species in 2004, it is believed to have been bipedal and similar in body and brain size to a chimpanzee.
2. a fossil belonging to this species.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Ardipithecus kadabba¹

Ardipithecus ( def ) + Afar kadabba “father of a family, oldest ancestor”; coined in 2004 by Ethiopian paleoanthropologist Yohannes Haile-Selassie Ambaye (born 1961), Japanese paleoanthropologist Gen Suwa (born 1954), and U.S. paleoanthropologist Tim White (born 1950)