australopithecus

plural australopitheci · plural australopithecuses

1. Alternative letter-case form of Australopithecus.

   The Ramapithecus line divided into two australopitheci which also died out, and the ancestor of modern man, which gradually evolved into Homo sapiens

   1981, Yu[ri] A[ndreevich] Kharin, translated by Konstantin Kostrov, “[Dialectics: The Universal Connection and Development] Dialectics and Metaphysics”, in Fundamentals of Dialectics, Moscow: Progress Publishers, page 117

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   If ramidus or one of the early australopithecuses, A. anamensis or A. afarensis, has a rather apelike vestibular system, as you might expect, then the old argument about mosaic evolution can be raised.

   1996, Alan Walker, Pat Shipman, “A Balanced Perspective”, in The Wisdom of the Bones: In Search of Human Origins, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, page 257

   He also puts forth unfounded claims like the one that australopitheci had prehensile feet like chimps and not feet like men, enabling them to walk upright.

   2002 December, Martin Riexinger, “The Islamic Creationism of Harun Yahya”, in Dick Douwes, editor, ISIM Newsletter, number 11, Leiden: International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World, →ISSN, page 5, column 2

   His hyperrealistic sculptural installations have typically looked to gut the preconceived notions about bravery and honor with which monumental sculpture is infused—whether in the vomiting boy scouts cut off from their chaperones in Lost and Sick (1996–2001), or the comically pathetic scenario of Very, Very First Man: Necessary Alterations (1998–99), in which a pair of recently evolved australopitheci clumsily reattach each other’s tails in a vain attempt to return to lower (and presumably less responsibility-burdened) life forms.

   2004, Susan K. Freedman, Tom Eccles, Dan Cameron, Katy Siegel, Jeffrey Kastner, Anne Wehr, “Tony Matelli: Stray Dog and Distant Party”, in Plop: Recent Projects of the Public Art Fund, London: Merrell, →ISBN, page 157

plural Australopitheci · plural Australopithecuses · alternative australopithecus

1. Synonym of australopith.

   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; […]

   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

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   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.

   1959, P[avel] Kann, translated by Robert Daglish, “Strelka of Vasilyevsky Island”, in Leningrad: A Short Guide, Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, page 86

   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.

   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

   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.

   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

   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.

   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

   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.

   1995, Claudine Roland, translated by Ann MacDonald-Plénacoste, “Tools and Men”, in Prehistory (In Focus), Vic-en-Bigorre: MSM, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 9

   Synonyms: australopith