Australopithecus africanus was an early hominid, an australopithecine, who lived between 2 and 3 million years ago. In common with the older Australopithecus afarensis, A. africanus was slenderly built, or gracile, and is likely to have been a direct ancestor of modern humans. Fossil remains indicate that A. africanus was significantly more evolved that A. afarensis however, with a more human-like cranium permitting a larger brain compared to body size and more humanoid facial features.
The name was given to the species by Raymond Dart, an Australian archaeologist who first described it following the find of the Taung Child in South Africa's Transvaal region in 1924.