Question

Fossil Lucy belonged to
A. Ramapithecous
B. Australopithecus
C. Dryopithecus
D. Aegyptopithecus

Answer 1

Hint: Lucy was discovered in Africa (in 1974). Lucy is several hundred pieces of fossilized bone representing 40 percent of the female skeleton of the hominin species In Ethiopia, the assembly is also known as Dinkinesh. One of the most striking characteristics of the Lucy skeleton is a valgus knee, which indicates that she normally moved by walking upright

Complete answer
A. Ramapithecous: It was an ape- like primate. They live on tree tops but travelled and ate on the ground. Its jaw bones and teeth were very much like those of humans. Small canines and large molars suggest that they ate hard nuts and seeds. They walk erect on the feet.
B. Australopithecus:
They appeared in South Africa about 4 or 5 million years ago and they had human as well as ape-like features.They had an omnivorous diet and fully erect posture.The oldest fossil they found was Lucy the Australopithecus afarensis and their fossils were obtained from the Pliocene rocks of Tuang region.
C. Dryopithecus: It closely resembles a chimpanzee but has arms and legs of approximately equal length. Dryopithecus africanus had a large brain, large canines. It was an arboreal knuckle-walker and ate soft fruits and leaves.
D. Aegyptopithecus: It is an early fossil catarryine that predates the divergence between hominoids (apes) and cercopithecoids (old world monkeys). They lived in northern Egypt. They were probably a frugi owl (eat fruits, vegetables, roots, shoats, nuts and seeds).

Hence the correct answer is option B i.e, Australopithecus.

Note:The earliest fossils of the prehistoric man are Ramapithecus and Sivapithecus found from the late miscine of India (Shivalik hills of Himalayas). They lived some 15 million years ago and were derived from Dryopithecus. Their counterpart in Africa is Kenyapithecus wickeri. Both Dryopithecus and Ramapithecus were hairy and walked the gorillas and chimpanzees.Dryopithecus was more ape like while Ramapithecus was more man like.