Ardipithecus ramidus

[ ahr-duh-pith-i-kuhs ram-i-duhs, ahr-duh-puh-thee-kuhs ]

noun

1. an extinct species of early hominin whose fossil remains were discovered in Ethiopia in the 1990s and have been dated at about 4.4 million years of age: evidence suggests a probable combination of bipedal and tree-climbing behavior, and some believe the species shares a human and African ape lineage, with no direct skeletal relationship to the chimpanzee.
2. a fossil belonging to this species, most notably the female specimen named Ardi.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Ardipithecus ramidus¹

Ardipithecus ( def ) + New Latin ramidus, equivalent to Afar ramid “root” (from the closeness of this species to the roots of humanity) + -us adjective suffix; coined by U.S. paleoanthropologist Tim White (born 1950) and his colleagues in 1994. At the time of this discovery, the genus Australopithecus was well established, and White coined the genus name Ardipithecus to distinguish the new genus from Australopithecus