Australopithecus Africanus. an extinct (fossil) species of the australopithecines. the first of an early ape-form species to be classified as hominin (in 1924). dated as living between 3.3 and 2.1 million years ago. or in the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene times. it is debated as being a direct ancestor of modern humans. This skull was found at Taung. South Africa