He created a new genus for it, Plesianthropus and because the skull was relatively small with smallish canine teeth it was presumed to belong to a female. The skull quickly obtained the nickname "Mrs Ples".
By Jos茅 Braga; Didier Descouens , CC BY-SA 4.0, Link
Plesianthropus has pretty much been dropped as a genus and "Mrs Ples" has been reassigned to Australopithecus africanus
There has also been an and off debate around the gender of the owner.
At that stage this was the only adult Australopithecus skull around. since then many have come to light and the size of the canines has been re-assessed in relation to a much broader set of individuals of known gender.
To compound the difficulty relevant portions of the skull were damaged a few years after its discovery when acid was used to remove stubborn particles from the fossilized skull.
The latest study goes back to evaluating the skull, not in its current condition, but using the dimensions recorded in the first descriptions before the acid damage.
These dimensions show large enough canine roots to confirm that the skull belongs to a male Australopithecus when compared to the more plentiful specimens of this species now available today.
