homo

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Homo Fossil range: 2.5–0.0 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓ Pliocene-present
Homo habilis, the earliest member of the genus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukarya
Kingdom:	Animalia
Subkingdom:	Eumetazoa
(unranked):	Bilateria
Phylum:	Chordata
(unranked)	Craniata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Infraphylum:	Gnathostomata
Superclass:	Tetrapoda
(unranked)	Amniota
Class:	Mammalia
Subclass:	Theria
Infraclass:	Eutheria
Superorder:	Euarchontoglires
Order:	Primates
Suborder:	Haplorrhini
Infraorder:	Simiiformes
Parvorder:	Catarrhini
Superfamily:	Hominoidea
Family:	Hominidae
Subfamily:	Homininae
Tribe:	Hominini
Subtribe:	Hominina
Genus:	Homo Linnaeus, 1758
Species
Homo sapiens †Homo habilis †Homo erectus †Homo antecessor †Homo ergaster †Homo heidelbergensis †Homo neanderthalensis †Homo floresiensis

Extant Hominoid family tree

Homo is the genus that includes modern humans and their close relatives. The genus is estimated to be about 2.5 million years old^{[citation needed]}, evolving from Australopithecine ancestors with the appearance of Homo habilis. Appearance of Homo coincides 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.

Given the large number of morphological similarities exhibited, Homo is closely related to several extinct hominin genera, most notably Kenyanthropus, Paranthropus, Ardipithecus and Australopithecus. As of 2009^[update], none of these taxa are universally accepted as the confirmed direct ancestor of Homo.

Naming

The word homo is Latin, in the original sense of "human being", or "person". The word "human" itself is from Latin humanus, an adjective cognate to homo, both thought to derive from a Proto-Indo-European word reconstructed as*dhǵhem- "earth".^[1] Cf. Hebrew adam, meaning "human", cognate to adamah, meaning "ground". (And cf. Latin humus, meaning "soil"; and Slavic земля meaning "land, earth"; and Sanskrit Bhumi meaning "Earth".)

Species

Species status of Homo rudolfensis, H. ergaster, H. georgicus, H. antecessor, H. cepranensis, H. rhodesiensis and H. floresiensis remains under debate. 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 genetically closer to chimpanzees than H. sapiens is, thereby suggesting that H. sapiens is the more derived of the two.^[2]

See also

• Human evolution
• List of human evolution fossils
• Timeline of human evolution

References

• Serre et al. (2004). "No evidence of Neandertal mtDNA contribution to early modern humans". PLoS Biology 2 (3): 313–7. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0020057. PMID 15024415. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Homo

Wikispecies has information related to: Homo

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of Introduction to Paleoanthropology

• Hominid species
• Mikko's Phylogeny archive
• Homo (genus) at the Encyclopedia of Life

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