Ardipithecus

American  

[ahr-di-pith-i-kuhs, ‐pi-thee-kuhs] / ˌɑr dɪˈpɪθ ɪ kəs, ‐pɪˈθi kəs /

noun

1. a genus of extinct hominine of the late Miocene and early Pliocene epochs, known from remains found in northeastern Ethiopia in the 1990s: its two named species are A. ramidus and A. kadabba .

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Etymology

Origin of Ardipithecus

First recorded in 1990–95; from New Latin, from Afar ard, ardi “earth” (from Arabic ʔarḍ ) + Latin pithēcus “ape” (from Greek píthēkos )

Example Sentences

Nearby, Haile-Selassie later found the lower jaw, teeth, and disarticulated bones of the hands, feet, and arm of Ardipithecus kadabba, dated to 5.8 million years ago.

From Science Magazine • Apr. 3, 2024

This foot evolved into a transitional foot capable of both grasping and walking, as seen in the fossil known as Ardi, a member of Ardipithecus ramidus that lived in Aramis, Ethiopia, 4.4 million years ago.

From Scientific American • Nov. 5, 2022

More than anything, human prehistory is not a tidy narrative of an ape evolving into White’s Ardipithecus, which begot Leakey’s proto-humans, which became us.

From New York Times • Dec. 22, 2020

However, fossils of the ancient potential hominin Ardipithecus ramidus suggest that living apes might have evolved quite specialized locomotion compared with their earlier ancestors.

From Nature • Nov. 5, 2019

In the intervening years, several more specimens of Ardipithecus, classified as two different species, demonstrated that the organism was bipedal.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015