A genus name (now mostly obsolete) formerly used for human-like apes or early hominins, particularly referring to extinct primate species with both ape and human characteristics.
From 'anthropo-' (human) + 'pithecus' (ape, from Greek pithekos). Coined in 19th-century paleontology when scientists were discovering early human ancestors and struggled to classify them.
Early paleontologists kept inventing names like this because they thought there should be a neat category between 'ape' and 'human,' but DNA revealed humans ARE apes—we're not separate from them, just a type of ape!
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