Hominidae (family)
Hierarchy classification:
Narrower term/s
Alternative term/s
- great apes and humans
- hominid
- hominids
Anotations
Scope note:
Family containing four genera with seven living species of humans, chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans that developed in Africa and Eurasia (prior to human expansion) from the Late Pleistocene. There are 25 fossil species of seven genera dating from the Pliocene. Note that this classification has been revised several times in the last few decades and is still in flux: Originally the group was restricted to humans and their extinct relatives, with the other great apes being placed in a separate family, the Pongidae. This earlier classification is still used by many anthropologists and by lay people; biologists reject the earlier classification because according to the earlier classification the group would contain the most recent common ancestor of the members of the group, but it would not contain all the descendants of that ancestor.