Ardipithecus

Ardipithecus is an extinct genus of early hominins known from Ethiopia’s Late Miocene and Early Pliocene. Its species include Ardipithecus kadabba and Ardipithecus ramidus.

Ardipithecus ramidus: An early hominin species from Ethiopia, best known from the 4.4-million-year-old partial skeleton nicknamed Ardi. This species supplies the genus’s most complete skeletal evidence.
Bipedalism: A form of locomotion in which an animal moves primarily on two legs. Ardipithecus fossils provide evidence about bipedal movement early in hominin evolution.
Middle Awash: A fossil-rich region in Ethiopia’s Afar Rift where researchers have recovered hominin remains spanning millions of years. Most known Ardipithecus fossils come from this region.
Australopithecus: An extinct genus of African hominins, including species that lived after Ardipithecus and commonly walked upright. Its later species allow comparison with Ardipithecus’s locomotor anatomy.
Ardipithecus kadabba: An early hominin species from Ethiopia, known from fossils dated to roughly 5.8–5.2 million years ago. Its older fossils extend the genus’s record before Ardi.
Ardipithecus ramidus foot: The foot of Ardipithecus ramidus, with a divergent, grasping big toe and adaptations for upright walking. Its mix of traits informs reconstructions of climbing and ground locomotion.
Afar Rift: A tectonically active depression in northeastern Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Djibouti with extensive fossil-bearing deposits. Its sedimentary basins preserve the geological record that dates Ardipithecus.
Sahelanthropus: An extinct genus of early hominins from Chad, represented chiefly by fossils dating to about seven million years ago. It is another candidate for an early hominin near the human–chimpanzee lineage split.
Ardi: The nickname for the partial Ardipithecus ramidus skeleton recovered from Ethiopia’s Middle Awash region. This individual anchors the best-known reconstruction of Ardipithecus anatomy.
Ardipithecus ramidus pelvis: The pelvis of Ardipithecus ramidus, whose upper structure has been interpreted as adapted for upright walking. Its anatomy is central to debates about how Ardipithecus walked.

Linked from 7 pages