Hominid

A hominid is any member of the biological family Hominidae . commonly include But also:

Note: "A primate of the family Hominidae, of which Homo sapiens is the only extant species." Note:The biological family that includes our species, Homo sapiens. This family has also included Neanderthals and other forerunners of today's humans, such as Australopithecus, Homo erectus, and Homo habilis. Today's human beings are the only surviving hominids. Note:Any member of the zoological family Hominidae (order Primates), which consists of the great apes (orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos) as well as human beings. Formerly, only humans (with their extinct forebears) were categorized as hominids, and the great apes were categorized as pongids — that is, members of the primate family Pongidae. However, morphological and molecular studies now indicate that humans are closely related to chimpanzees, while gorillas are more distant and orangutans more distant still. As a result, it has become more common among zoologists to consider humans and great apes to be hominids.

(the "great apes"), including the extinct and extant humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. (This classification has been revised several times in the last few decades. See the Hominidae and history of hominoid taxonomy articles.)

Note: The term hominid technically refers to any member of the biological family Hominidae (the "great apes"), a group of primates that includes the extinct and extant humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. Originally, however, the term hominid was restricted to humans and their extinct relatives—those more closely related to humans than the other great apes, which were in a different family—and this definition of hominid is still used by many anthropologists and lay people.

Another classification, which was historically common, was to divide the hominoids into three families, the Hylobatidae (gibbons), the Pongidae (orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos), and the Hominidae (humans). In this case, the term hominid accurately applies to all human and humanlike forms, while great apes applies only to gorillas, chimpanzees (and bonobos), and orangutans.

Some researchers place gorillas and chimpanzees (and the related bonobos) into the Panidae family, while orangutans remain in the Pongidae family, and humans in the Hominidae. Hominids also applies only to humans and their close relatives in this scheme. The bonobos are sometimes considered a variety of chimpanzees and are referred to as pygmy chimpanzees.

Until about 1960, the apes (hominoids) were usually divided into two families: humans and their extinct relatives in Hominidae, the other apes in Pongidae

Under current classification, there are two families of hominoids:

the family Hylobatidae consists of 4 genera and 12 species of gibbons, including the Lar Gibbon and the Siamang, collectively known as the "lesser apes" the family Hominidae consisting of gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans, and humans,[1][2] collectively known as the "great apes".

Certain morphological characteristics are still used conventionally (though incorrectly) to support the idea that hominid should only denote humans and human ancestors, namely bipedalism and large brains. These points of departure between human beings and the other great apes are important, but taxonomically do not divide us into separate families. Genetics, rather than morphology, is the critical test of relatedness and in this respect humans and the other great apes ought to be of the same family. Indeed, the terms hominid and "great ape" are now effectively coterminous. However, anthropologists use the term to mean humans and their direct and near-direct ancestors, despite the changes in the understanding of hominoid taxonomy that have happened in the past several decades.

Note for example, Mayr's (2001) use in his book What Evolution is (2001): ****

The primatological term is easily confused with a number of very similar words:

• A hominoid is a member of the superfamily Hominoidea: extant members are the lesser apes (gibbons) and great apes.
• A hominid is a member of the family Hominidae: all of the great apes.
• A hominine is a member of the subfamily Homininae: gorillas, chimpanzees, humans (excludes orangutans).
• A hominin is a member of the tribe Hominini: chimpanzees and humans.
• A hominan is a member of the sub-tribe Hominina: humans and their extinct relatives.
• A humanoid is a vaguely human-shaped entity.

References

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Groves, Colin (16 November 2005). in Wilson, D. E., and Reeder, D. M. (eds): Mammal Species of the World, 3rd edition, Johns Hopkins University Press, 178-184. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. ^ a b M. Goodman, D. A. Tagle, D. H. Fitch, W. Bailey, J. Czelusniak, B. F. Koop, P. Benson, J. L. Slightom (1990). "Primate evolution at the DNA level and a classification of hominoids". Journal of Molecular Evolution 30: 260–266.

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