Australopithecus
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: Australopitheci
form: Australopithecuses
form: australopithecus
Etymology: From the genus name Australopithecus.
Senses: examples: text: In its turn the institute received from the British Museum of Natural History plaster casts of the skulls of Australopithecuses, a species of higher ape which lived over a million years ago.
ref: 1959, P[avel] Kann, translated by Robert Daglish, “Strelka of Vasilyevsky Island”, in Leningrad: A Short Guide, Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, page 86:
text: In his final period, Teilhard felt he saw all his own Weltanschauung confirmed by Dr. Broom’s work with the fossils of Australopitheci in South Africa; […]
ref: 1960 autumn, Herbert Musurillo, “[Book Reviews: Philosophy] The Phenomenon of Man. By Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. […]”, in Thought: Fordham University Quarterly; A Review of Culture and Idea, volume XXXV, number 138, New York, N.Y.: Fordham University Press, →ISSN, page 450:
text: 1. Australopithecus africanus. (a) Taungs: It was found in 1924 in a cave at Taungs in Bechuanaland, South Africa. It is the oldest of all Australopitheci, about 600,000 years old.
ref: 1963, Stephen Fuchs, “The Human Race in Its Development from the Earliest Times”, in The Origin of Man and His Culture, New York, N.Y.: Asia Publishing House, page 25:
text: On the other, in the fossil-bearing pockets exposed in the Transvaal, in the region of Johannesburg (Taungs, Sterkfontein) by quarries opened in the limestone (exactly as at Choukoutien), a whole series of skulls and jaws, and some limb bones have, since 1925, gradually been disclosing the extremely curious group of Australopitheci.
ref: 1965, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, translated by J[ohn] M[ichael] Cohen, “The Question of Fossil Man”, in The Appearance of Man, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Row, →LCCN, pages 108–109:
text: In the middle of the nineteenth century there were very few paleontological data shedding light on the origin of man. During the past century many major discoveries were made in that area, among which the discovery of remains of Australopithecuses in South and East Africa was particularly important, as was the discovery of remains of Pithecanthropes and of closely related creatures (Homo erectus) in Java, China, and Africa.
ref: 1980, M[ikhail] I[vanovich] Budyko, anonymous translator, “The Origin of Man”, in Global Ecology, Moscow: Progress Publishers, section VIII (The Ecological Mechanism of the Evolution of Man), page 224:
text: The Australopitheci, who lived between the years - 6 million and - 1 million, perhaps mingled with the first representatives of the human race, the Homo habilis… their presence is certified in Africa as early as the year - 2.4 million, but could date back to the year - 3 million.
ref: 1995, Claudine Roland, translated by Ann MacDonald-Plénacoste, “Tools and Men”, in Prehistory (In Focus), Vic-en-Bigorre: MSM, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 9:
text: This stone, which was discovered, several kilometres from any possible geological source, in a cave occupied by Australopitheci in South Africa, must have been found and transported about three million years ago on account of its redness, its accidental likeness to a face and, above all, because of its ‘gaze’.
ref: 2002, Dario Gamboni, translated by Mark Treharne, “From the origins to the classical age”, in Potential Images: Ambiguity and Indeterminacy in Modern Art, London: Reaktion Books, →ISBN, pages 22–23:
text: In this sphere too, Homo habilis was the first species of Homo to exhibit the brain capacity crucial to sustain language: 700 ccs against the 450 ccs of the Australopitheci who preceded him, and significantly greater development in the parietal and frontal areas, which are respectively responsible for the control over language and over the hands.
ref: 2010, Bruno G. Bara, translated by John Douthwaite, “The Evolution of Communicative Competence”, in Cognitive Pragmatics: The Mental Processes of Communication, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, →ISBN, page 215:
text: It’s Wizard McDowl, chaos magic terrifies him. He watched his parents turn into Australopithecuses during the war. He’s never got over it.
ref: 2012, Stephen B. Pearl, “Officialdom”, in Worlds Apart, Toronto, Ont.: Dark Dragon Publishing, published 30 July 2013, →ISBN, page 25:
glosses: Synonym of australopith.
synonyms: word: australopith