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.

---

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.”

---

Discover More

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

See Examples For:

Australopithecus

That includes the way scientists categorize species within Homo as well as Australopithecus and Paranthropus, all of which lived during the past 5 million years.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 20, 2026

Dr. Towle argues that moving Australopithecus and Paranthropus species into Homo could create a more consistent picture of human evolutionary history.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 20, 2026

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

The paper "New discoveries of Australopithecus and Homo from Ledi-Geraru, Ethiopia," was published in Nature in 2025.

From Science Daily ● May 16, 2026

Humans first evolved in East Africa about 2.5 million years ago from an earlier genus of apes called Australopithecus, which means ‘Southern Ape’.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari