[pith-i-kan-thruh-puh
s, -kuhn-throh-puhs] 
| a former genus of extinct hominids whose members have now been assigned to the proposed species Homo erectus. |
| pith·e·can·thro·pus (pĭth'ĭ-kān'thrə-pəs, -kān-thrō'pəs) n. An extinct primate postulated from bones found in Java in 1891 and originally designated Pithecanthropus erectus because it was thought to represent a species evolutionarily between apes and humans. Pithecanthropus is now classified as Homo erectus. [New Latin Pithēcanthrōpus, genus name : Greek pithēkos, ape + Greek anthrōpos, man.] pith'e·can·throp'ic (-kən-thrŏp'ĭk) adj., pith'e·can'thro·pine (-kān'thrə-pīn') adj. |
