Homininae is a subfamily of Hominidae, which includes humans, gorillas and chimpanzees, and some extinct human relatives; it comprises all those hominids, such as Australopithecus, that arose after the split from the other great apes.
Until 1980, the family Hominidae contained only humans, with the great apes in the family Pongidae. Discoveries led to a revision of classification, with the great apes (now Ponginae) and humans (Homininae) united i...
more
Homininae is a subfamily of Hominidae, which includes humans, gorillas and chimpanzees, and some extinct human relatives; it comprises all those hominids, such as Australopithecus, that arose after the split from the other great apes.
Until 1980, the family Hominidae contained only humans, with the great apes in the family Pongidae. Discoveries led to a revision of classification, with the great apes (now Ponginae) and humans (Homininae) united in Hominidae. Further discoveries indicated that gorillas and chimpanzees are more closely related to humans than they are to orangutans, hence their current placement in Homininae.
The subfamily Homininae can be further subdivided into the tribes Gorillini (gorillas) and Hominini (bonobos, chimpanzees and humans). The early Late Miocene Nakalipithecus nakayamai, described in 2007, and perhaps also its contemporary Ouranopithecus, are basal members of this clade, not assignable to either the gorilla or the chimpanzee-humans lineage. They...
less
