Australopithecine

The term australopithecine refers generally to any species in the related genera Australopithecus (some of which are sometimes placed in Praeanthropus) and Paranthropus (sometimes synonymized with Australopithecus). This may also include Kenyanthropus. These genera occurred in the Plio-Pleistocene era, and were bipedal and dentally similar to humans, but with a brain size not much larger than modern apes, with lesser encephalization than in the genus Homo.