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Australopithecine

 

 
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Australopithecine
 
 
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The term australopithecine refers to two very closely related genera
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 within the Hominina
Hominina

The more anthropomorphic primates of the Hominini tribe are placed in the Hominina subtribe. They are characterized by the evolution of an increasingly erect bipedal locomotion....
 subtribe of the Hominini
Hominini

Hominini is the tribe of Homininae that comprises homo and two species of chimpanzee , their ancestors, and the extinct lineages of their Most recent common ancestor....
 tribe
Tribe (biology)

In biology, a tribe — or infrafamily — is a taxonomic rank between family and genus. It is sometimes subdivided into subtribes....
. They appeared in the Pliocene
Pliocene

The Pliocene epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 1.806 million years before present.The Pliocene is the second epoch of the Neogene period in the Cenozoic era....
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When used alone, the term refers to both genera together. Australopithecus is sometimes referred to as the "gracile (slender) australopithecines", while Paranthropus are also called the "robust australopithecines".

A likely ancestor of the Australopithecines is the Ardipithecus
Ardipithecus

'Ardipithecus' is a very early Hominini genus which lived about 4.4 million years ago during the early Pliocene.Because this genus shares several traits with the African great ape genera , some consider it to be on the chimpanzee rather than human branch, but most consider it a proto-human because of a likeness in teeth with Australopi...
 genus (lived 4.4 million years ago).






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The term australopithecine refers to two very closely related genera
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 within the Hominina
Hominina

The more anthropomorphic primates of the Hominini tribe are placed in the Hominina subtribe. They are characterized by the evolution of an increasingly erect bipedal locomotion....
 subtribe of the Hominini
Hominini

Hominini is the tribe of Homininae that comprises homo and two species of chimpanzee , their ancestors, and the extinct lineages of their Most recent common ancestor....
 tribe
Tribe (biology)

In biology, a tribe — or infrafamily — is a taxonomic rank between family and genus. It is sometimes subdivided into subtribes....
. They appeared in the Pliocene
Pliocene

The Pliocene epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 1.806 million years before present.The Pliocene is the second epoch of the Neogene period in the Cenozoic era....
:

  • Australopithecus
    Australopithecus

    The genus Australopithecus is a genus of extinction hominids, made up of the gracile australopiths, and formerly also included their larger relatives, the robust australopiths ....
    , appeared about 4 million years ago;
  • Paranthropus
    Paranthropus

    The robust australopithecines, members of the extinct hominin genus Paranthropus , were bipedal hominins that probably descended from the gracile australopithecine hominins ....
    , appeared about 2.7 million years ago.


When used alone, the term refers to both genera together. Australopithecus is sometimes referred to as the "gracile (slender) australopithecines", while Paranthropus are also called the "robust australopithecines".

A likely ancestor of the Australopithecines is the Ardipithecus
Ardipithecus

'Ardipithecus' is a very early Hominini genus which lived about 4.4 million years ago during the early Pliocene.Because this genus shares several traits with the African great ape genera , some consider it to be on the chimpanzee rather than human branch, but most consider it a proto-human because of a likeness in teeth with Australopi...
 genus (lived 4.4 million years ago). The Homo
Homo (genus)

Homo is the genus that includes anatomically modern humanss 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....
 genus (human
Human

A human being, also human or man, is a member of a species of bipedalism primates in the family Hominidae . Mitochondrial DNA evidence indicates that modern humans originated in east Africa about 200,000 years ago....
s, appear about 2.4 million years ago with Homo habilis
Homo habilis

Homo habilis is a species of the genus Homo , which lived from approximately 2.5 million to at least 1.6 million years ago at the beginning of the Pleistocene....
) appear to be descended from Australopithecine ancestors, more precisely from Kenyanthropus platyops
Kenyanthropus platyops

Kenyanthropus platyops is a 3.5 to 3.2 million year old extinct hominin species that was discovered in Lake Turkana, Kenya in 1999 by Justus Erus, who was part of Meave Leakey's team....
  branching off Australopithecus some 3.5 million years ago. An alternative possibility is the derivation of Homo directly from Ardipithecus with an as yet undiscovered link connecting Ardipithecus and Homo habilis existing in parallel to the Australopithecines in the period 4 to 2.5 million years ago.

See also

  • Human taxonomy
    Human taxonomy

    'Human taxonomy' is the classification of the species Homo sapiens , or modern human. Homo is the human genus, which also includes Neanderthals and many other extinct species of hominid; H....