This fossil was originally described as a species of Australopithecus, but White and his colleagues later published a note in the same journal renaming the fossil under a new genus, Ardipithecus.
Ovi su fosili isprva opisani kao ostaci neke vrste Australopithecusa, ali White i njegovi kolege kasnije su objavili bilješku u istom časopisu kojom su pripisali taj fosil novom rodu, Ardipithecus.