What is the meaning of Ardipithecus?

Asked by: Steven Cole

Definition of Ardipithecus : a genus of extinct early hominids known from skeletal remains from northeastern Ethiopia that includes two identified species (A. ramidus and A.

What do the terms Ardipithecus and ramidus mean?

ramidus . White and his colleagues gave their discovery the name Ardipithecus ramidus (‘ramid’ means ‘root’ in the Afar language of Ethiopia and refers to the closeness of this new species to the roots of humanity, while ‘Ardi’ means ‘ground’ or ‘floor’).

What does the word Australopithecus mean?

southern ape

Australopithecus, (Latin: “southern ape”) (genus Australopithecus), group of extinct primates closely related to, if not actually ancestors of, modern human beings and known from a series of fossils found at numerous sites in eastern, north-central, and southern Africa.

Where was Ardipithecus found?

The Ardipithecus ramidus fossils were discovered in Ethiopia’s harsh Afar desert at a site called Aramis in the Middle Awash region, just 46 miles (74 kilometers) from where Lucy’s species, Australopithecus afarensis, was found in 1974.

What is the characteristics of Ardipithecus?

This species was a facultative biped and stood upright on the ground but could move on all four limbs in trees. Features of the anatomy are extremely primitive. upper canines are shaped like diamonds, rather than the pointed shape seen in African apes, whch is a derived feature shared with Australopithecus afarensis .

How old is Ardipithecus?

Ardipithecus lived between 5.8 million and 4.4 million years ago, from late in the Miocene Epoch (23 million to 5.3 million years ago) to the early to middle Pliocene Epoch (5.3 million to 2.6 million years ago). The genus contains two known species, Ar. ramidus and Ar. kadabba.

Why is Ardipithecus important?

ramidus because at 4.4 mya, it provides the first extensive fossil evidence that extends our understanding of the last common ancestor we shared with chimpanzees.

Who discovered Australopithecus?

Raymond Dart

History of Discovery:
Raymond Dart described it and named the species Australopithecus africanus (meaning southern ape of Africa), it took more than 20 years for the scientific community to widely accept Australopithecus as a member of the human family tree.

Which is older Australopithecus or Ardipithecus?

However, because the “Ardi” skeleton is no more than 200,000 years older than the earliest fossils of Australopithecus, and may in fact be younger than they are, some researchers doubt that it can represent a direct ancestor of Australopithecus.

When was Australopithecus alive?

When did Australopithecus afarensis live? According to the fossils recovered to date, Au. afarensis lived between 3.7 and three million years ago. This means the species survived for at least 700,000 years, more than twice as long as our own species, Homo sapiens, has been around.

Which statement best describes some important characteristics of Ardipithecus?

Which statement best describes some important characteristics of Ardipithecus? Ardipithecus had a transitional pelvis and lived in a woodland forest environment.

Can Ardipithecus walk?

The new analysis points to a diversity of adaptations during the transition to how modern humans walk today. “The fact that Ardipithecus could both walk upright, albeit imperfectly, and scurry in trees marks it out as a pivotal transitional figure in our human lineage,” Simpson said.

Where did the Ardipithecus ramidus live?

Aramis, Ethiopia

ramidus lived in a river-margin forest in an otherwise savanna (wooded grassland) landscape at Aramis, Ethiopia.