Paranthropus boisei

[ puh-ran-thruh-puhs boi-sey, par-uhn-throh-puhs ]

noun

1. an extinct species of very rugged, large-toothed bipedal hominin, originally named Zinjanthropus boisei and later Australopithecus boisei, that lived in eastern Africa about 1–2 million years ago.
2. a fossil belonging to this species.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Paranthropus boisei¹

First recorded in 1955–60; from New Latin; Paranthropus ( def ) + boisei after Charles Boise, a benefactor of L.S.B. Leakey, who described and named the original finds in 1959