Question

This is an early hominid who lived between 2–3 million years ago in the Pliocene and is thought to be a direct ancestor of modern humans. This hominid had a slender build a more human-like cranium permitting a larger brain, and more humanoid facial features.

Answer 1

The hominid that is described is Australopithecus africanus.

Australopithecus africanus is one of the extinct hominids. It lived approximately from between 3.2 to 2.1 million years ago, in the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene. It is a species that lived in Africa, but its total range is not well known as there is only four fossils from it found, all in the same region, in the southern part of Africa.

The Australopithecus africanus is thought to be the ancestor of the later Homo habilis, and it is also considered to be a direct ancestor of the modern Homo sapiens, though that is still debatable.