Australopithecus

American  

[aw-strey-loh-pith-i-kuhs, -puh-thee-kuhs, aw-struh-loh-] / ɔˌstreɪ loʊˈpɪθ ɪ kəs, -pəˈθi kəs, ˌɔ strə loʊ- /

noun

1. an extinct genus of small-brained, large-toothed bipedal hominins that lived in Africa between one and four million years ago: the genus Homo, to which modern humans belong, is believed to have evolved from this genus or to have shared a common ancestor.

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Australopithecus Cultural  

1. An extinct genus of the hominid family that lived in Africa from about three to one million years ago. The name means “southern ape.”

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Members of this genus were the ancestors of modern humans. One of the best-known fossils, Lucy, was a member of this genus.

Etymology

Origin of Australopithecus

First recorded in 1920–25; from New Latin: literally “southern ape,” equivalent to austrāl(is) “southern” + -o- connecting vowel + pithēcus “ape,” from Greek píthēkos. See austral ¹, -o-,

Example Sentences

Their results suggest that early hominins such as Ardipithecus and Australopithecus probably showed only mild right-hand preferences, similar to what is seen in modern great apes today.

From Science Daily • May 18, 2026

An international research team studying fossils from the site found evidence that Australopithecus and the earliest known members of Homo lived in the same region between about 2.6 and 2.8 million years ago.

From Science Daily • May 16, 2026

The 2025 Nature study reported Homo fossils at 2.78 and 2.59 million years ago, along with Australopithecus at 2.63 million years ago.

From Science Daily • May 16, 2026

Presumably, the character of Lucy was given her name as a nod to our earliest known ancestor, a 3.2-million-year-old Australopithecus afarensis who stood about the same height as Ben.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 9, 2026

Those protohumans are generally known as Australopithecus africanus, Homo habilis, and Homo erectus, which apparently evolved into each other in that sequence.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond