Australopithecus

New Latin, from Latin austrālis (“southern”) + Ancient Greek πίθηκος (píthēkos, “ape”), named by Australian anatomist Raymond Dart in 1925 in reference to the type specimen having been found in South Africa.

Australopithecus m

1. A taxonomic genus within the family Hominidae – a group of extinct hominids related to humans, australopiths.

Members of the genus Paranthropus are sometimes grouped together with this genus.

• (genus): Eukaryota – superkingdom; Animalia – kingdom; Bilateria – subkingdom; Deuterostomia – infrakingdom; Chordata – phylum; Vertebrata – subphylum; Gnathostomata – infraphylum; Tetrapoda – superclass; Mammalia – class; Theria - subclass; Eutheria/Placentalia - infraclass; Primates - order; Haplorrhini - suborder; Simiiformes - infraorder; Catarrhini - parvorder; Hominoidea - superfamily; Hominidae - family; Homininae - subfamily; Hominini - tribe; Hominina - subtribe

• (genus): Australopithecus africanus - type species, Australopithecus afarensis, Australopithecus bahrelghazali, Australopithecus anamensis, Australopithecus garhi, Australopithecus sediba - other species