Homo (genus)

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Homo

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Primates
Family:	Hominidae
Subfamily:	Homininae
Tribe:	Hominini
Subtribe:	Hominina
Genus:	Homo Linnaeus, 1758

Species

Homo sapiens
See text for extinct species.

Homo is the genus that includes modern humans and their close relatives. The genus is estimated to be about 2.5 million years old, evolving from Australopithecine ancestors with the appearance of Homo habilis. Appearance of Homo co-incides with the first evidence of stone tools (the Oldowan industry), and thus by definition with the beginning of the Lower Paleolithic.

All species except Homo sapiens (modern humans) are extinct. Homo neanderthalensis, traditionally considered the last surviving relative, died out 24,000 years ago while a recent discovery suggests that another species, Homo floresiensis, may have lived as recently as 12,000 years ago.

A minority of zoologists consider that the two species of chimpanzees (usually treated in the genus Pan), and maybe the gorillas (usually treated in the genus Gorilla) should also be included in the genus based on genetic similarities. Most scientists argue that chimpanzees and gorillas have too many anatomical differences between themselves and humans to be part of Homo. Given the large number of morphological similarities exhibited, Homo is closely related to several extinct hominin genera, most notably Kenyanthropus, Paranthropus and Australopithecus. As of 2007, there is no universally accepted recognition of which taxa Homo radiated from.

The word homo is Latin for "man", in the original sense of "human being", or "person". The word "human" itself is from Latin humanus, an adjective cognate to homo, both derived from Proto-Indo-European language dhǵhem- "earth"[1]. Cf. Hebrew adam, meaning "human", cognate to adamah, meaning "ground". (And cf. Latin humus, meaning "soil".) Homo/humanus/humus and adam/adamah share a conjectured Nostratic superroot, ad-ham-.^{[citation needed]}

Species

†Homo habilis (Handy Man)
†Homo rudolfensis (Rudolf Man)
†Homo ergaster (Working Man)
†Homo erectus (Upright Man)
†Homo floresiensis (Flores Man; discovered 2003. Species status remains under debate.)
†Homo antecessor (Predecessor Man)
†Homo heidelbergensis (Heidelberg Man)
†Homo neanderthalensis (Neanderthal Man)
†Homo rhodesiensis (Rhodesia Man)
†Homo cepranensis (Ceprano Man)
†Homo georgicus (Georgia Man)
Homo sapiens
- †Homo sapiens idaltu (elderly wise man — discovered 1997)
- Homo sapiens sapiens (Wise Man; modern humans)

H. heidelbergensis and H. neanderthalensis are closely related to each other and have been considered to be subspecies of H. sapiens, but analysis of mitochondrial DNA from Homo neanderthalensis fossils shows that H. neanderthalensis is more closely related to chimpanzees than H. sapiens is, thereby suggesting that H. sapiens is the more derived of the two.^{[[#_note-Unclear article that seems to indicate that H. neanderthalensis are more closely related to chimps than H. Sapiens are|[1]]]} H. rhodesiensis and H. cepranensis are also more closely related to each other than to the other species.

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Comparative table of *Homo* species
Species	Lived when (MYA)	Lived where	Adult length (m)	Adult mass (kg)	Brain volume (cm³)	Fossil record	Discovery / publication of name
H. habilis	2.5–1.5	Africa	1.0–1.5	30–55	600	many	1960/1964
H. rudolfensis	1.9	Kenya				1 skull	1972/1986
H. georgicus	1.8–1.6	Georgia			600	few	1999/2002
H. ergaster	1.9–1.25	E. and S. Africa	1.9		700–850	many	1975
H. erectus	2(1.25)–0.3^{[citations needed]}	Africa, Eurasia (Java, China, Caucasus)	1.8	60	900–1100	many	1891/1892
H. cepranensis	0.8?	Italy			1000	1 skull cap	1994/2003
H. antecessor	0.8–0.35	Spain, England	1.75	90	1000	3 sites	1997
H. heidelbergensis	0.6–0.25	Europe, Africa, China	1.8	60	1100–1400	many	1908
H. neanderthalensis	0.23–0.03	Europe, W. Asia	1.6	55–70 (heavily built)	1200–1700	many	(1829)/1864
H. rhodesiensis	0.3–0.12	Zambia			1300	very few	1921
H. sapiens	0.25–present	worldwide	1.4–1.9	55–80	1000–1850	still living	—/1758
H. sapiens idaltu	0.16–0.15	Ethiopia			1450	3 craniums	1997/2003
H. floresiensis	0.10–0.012	Indonesia	1.0	25	400	7 individuals	2003/2004

References

Serre et al. (2004). "No evidence of Neandertal mtDNA contribution to early modern humans". PLoS Biology 2 (3): 313–7. PMID 15024415.

[[#_ref-Unclear article that seems to indicate that H. neanderthalensis are more closely related to chimps than H. Sapiens are_0|^]] Neanderthal DNA illuminates split with humans. NewScientist.com (2006-10-11). Retrieved on 2006-12-21.

External links

Wikispecies has information related to:

Homo

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of

Introduction to Paleoanthropology

v • d • e

Part of the series on Human evolution

Hominini

Sahelanthropus tchadensis • Orrorin tugenensis • Ardipithecus • Kenyanthropus platyops

Australopithecines

Australopithecus: A. anamensis • A. afarensis • A. bahrelghazali • A. africanus • A. garhi Paranthropus: P. aethiopicus • P. boisei • P. robustus

Humans and Proto-humans

Homo: H. habilis • H. rudolfensis • H. georgicus • H. ergaster • H. erectus (H. e. lantianensis • H. e. palaeojavanicus • H. e. pekinensis • H. e. soloensis) • H. cepranensis • H. antecessor • H. heidelbergensis • H. neanderthalensis • H. rhodesiensis • H. floresiensis • Homo sapiens (H. s. idaltu • H. s. sapiens)

Topics: Timeline of human evolution • List of human evolution fossils • Human evolutionary genetics

v • d • e

Extant species of family Hominidae

Kingdom: Animalia · Phylum: Chordata · Class: Mammalia · Order: Primates · Suborder: Haplorrhini

Ponginae

Pongo	Bornean Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) · Sumatran Orangutan (Pongo abelii)

Homininae

Gorilla	Western Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) · Eastern Gorilla (Gorilla beringei)
Pan	Common Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) · Bonobo (Pan paniscus)
Homo	Human (Homo sapiens sapiens)

Category

v • d • e Apes
Ape study	Ape language · Ape Trust · Dian Fossey · Birutė Galdikas · Jane Goodall · Chimpanzee genome project · Human genome project	Image:Primatenskelett-drawing.jpg
Legal status	Personhood · Research ban · Declaration · Kinshasa Declaration · Great Ape Project · Survival Project
See also...	Bushmeat · Ape extinction · List of notable apes · List of fictional apes · Human evolution · Mythic Humanoids · Hominid · Planet of the Apes