Which species does the Lucy fossil belong to?

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Side view illustration of Australopithecus afarensis, an early human ancestor, shown walking upright with a hairy body and ape-like facial features. A scale beside the figure marks 12 inches and 40 centimeters. — Australopithecus Artist's rendering of *Australopithecus afarensis*, which lived from 3.8 to 2.9 million years ago.

The famous fossil known as "Lucy" is classified as a member of the species Australopithecus afarensis.123

Discovered in 1974 by paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson at the Hadar site in Ethiopia, this 40-percent-complete skeleton dates to approximately 3.2 million years ago. The specimen is a vital piece of evidence in human evolution, as it displays a combination of apelike features—such as a small brain and long arms—alongside a pelvis and limb anatomy that indicate the species practiced bipedal locomotion.132