Temporary Page

Hominidae

Humans, great apes, and their extinct relatives

Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
chimpanzeeLowland gorillaOrangutan
taxon links [up-->]Gorilla [up-->]Homo [up-->]Pan [up-->]Pongo extinct icon extinct icon Not Monophyletic[down<--]Catarrhini Interpreting the tree
close box

This tree diagram shows the relationships between several groups of organisms.

The root of the current tree connects the organisms featured in this tree to their containing group and the rest of the Tree of Life. The basal branching point in the tree represents the ancestor of the other groups in the tree. This ancestor diversified over time into several descendent subgroups, which are represented as internal nodes and terminal taxa to the right.

example of a tree diagram

You can click on the root to travel down the Tree of Life all the way to the root of all Life, and you can click on the names of descendent subgroups to travel up the Tree of Life all the way to individual species.

For more information on ToL tree formatting, please see Interpreting the Tree or Classification. To learn more about phylogenetic trees, please visit our Phylogenetic Biology pages.

close box
Phylogeny in part from Purvis (1995).
Containing group: Catarrhini

Other Names for Hominidae

References

Asfaw, B., T. White, O. Lovejoy, B. Latimer, S. Simpson, and G. Suwa. 1999. Australopithecus garhi: A new species of early hominid from Ethiopia. Science 284:629-635.

Bailey, W. 1993. Hominoid trichotomy: a molecular overview. Evolutionary Anthropology 2:100-108.

Bailey, W. J. , K. Hayasaka, C. G. Skinner, S. Kehoe, L. C. Sieu, J. L. Slightom, and M. Goodman. 1992. Reexamination of the African hominoid trichotomy with additional sequences from the primate beta-globin gene cluster. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 1:97-135.

Brunet, M., A. Beauvilain, Y. Coppens, E. Heintz, A.H.E. Moutaye, and D. Pilbeam. 1995. The first australopithecine 2,500 kilometres west of the rift valley (Chad). Nature 378:273-275.

Cela-Conde, C. J. and F. J. Ayala. 2003. Genera of the human lineage. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 100(13):7684-7689.

Chaimanee, Y., D. Jolly, M.Benammi, P.Tafforeau, D. Duzer, I.Moussa, and J.-J. Jaeger. 2003. A Middle Miocene hominoid from Thailand and orangutan origins. Nature 422(6927):61-65.

Chen, F. C., and W. H. Li. 2001. Genomic divergences between humans and other hominoids and the effective population size of the common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees. Am J Hum Genet 68:444–456.

Collard, M. and B. Wood. 2000. How reliable are human phylogenetic hypotheses? Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 97:5003-5006.

Dean, C., M. G. Leakey, D. Reid, F. Schrenk, G. T. Schwartz, C. Stringer, and A. Walker. 2001. Growth processes in teeth distinguish modern humans from Homo erectus and earlier hominins. Nature 414:628-631.

Gagneux, P. 2004. A Pan-oramic view: insights into hominoid evolution through the chimpanzee genome. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 19(11):571-576.

Gagneux, P. and A. Varki. 2001. Genetic differences between humans and great apes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 18:2?13.

Gagneux, P., C. Wills, U. Gerloff, D. Tautz, P. A. Morin, C. Boesch, B. Fruth, G. Hohmann, O. A. Ryder, and D. S. Woodruff. 1999. Mitochondrial sequences show diverse evolutionary histories of African hominoids. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 96:5077-5082.

Gonzalez, I. L. , J. E. Sylvester, T. F. Smith, D. Stambolian, and R. D. Schmickel. 1990. Ribosomal RNA gene sequences and hominoid phylogeny. Molecular Biology and Evolution 7:203-219.

Goodman, M., D. A. Tagle, D. H. A. Fitch, W. Bailey, J. Czelusniak, B. F. Koop, P. Benson, and J. L. Slightom. 1990. Primate evolution at the DNA level and a classification of hominoids. Journal of Molecular Evolution 30:260-266.

Gu, J. and X. Gu. 2003. Induced gene expression in human brain after the split from chimpanzee. Trends in Genetics 19(2):63-65.

Hacia, J. G. 2001. Genome of the apes. Trends in Genetics 17:637?645.

Haile-Selassie, Y. 2001. Late Miocene hominids from the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. Nature 412:178-181.

Haile-Selassie, Y., G. Suwa, and T. D. White. 2004. Late Miocene teeth from Middle Awash, Ethiopia, and early hominid dental evolution. Science 303(5663):1503-1505.

Horai, S., Y. Satta, K. Hayasaka, R. Kondo, T. Inoue, T. Ishida, S. Hayashi, and N. Takahata. 1992. Man's place in hominoidea revealed by mitochondrial DNA genealogy. Journal of Molecular Evolution 35:32-43.

Kimbel, W.H., D. C. Johanson, and Y. Rak. 1994. The first skull and other new discoveries of Australopithecus afarensis at Hadar, Ethiopia. Nature 368:449-451.

Leakey, M. G., C. S. Feibel, I. McDougall, and A. Walker. 1995. New 4-million-year-old hominid species from Kanapoi and Allia Bay, Kenya. Nature 376:565-571.

Leakey, M. G., F. Spoor, F. H. Brown, P. N. Gathogo, C. Kiarie, L. N. Leakey, and I. McDougall. 2001. New hominin genus from eastern Africa shows diverse middle Pliocene lineages. Nature 410:433-440.

McCollum, M. A. 1999. The robust australopithecine face: A morphogenetic perspective. Science 284:301-305.

McHenry, H. M. and K. Coffing. 2000. Australopithecus to Homo: Transformations in body and mind. Annual Review of Anthropology 29:125-146.

Mohammad-Ali, K., M.-E. Eladari, and F. Galibert. 1995. Gorilla and orangutan c-myc nucleotide sequences: Inference on hominoid phylogeny. Journal of Molecular Evolution 41:262-276.

O'Huigin, C., Y. Satta, N. Takahata, and J. Klein. 2002. Contribution of homoplasy and of ancestral polymorphism to the evolution of genes in anthropoid primates. Mol Biol Evol 19: 1501–1513.

Patterson, N., D. J. Richter, S. Gnerre, E. S. Lander, and D. Reich. 2006. Genetic evidence for complex speciation of humans and chimpanzees. Nature 441:1103–1108.

Perrin-Pecontal, P. , M. Gouy, V. M. Nigon, and G. Trabuchet. 1992. Evolution of the primate beta-globin gene region: Nucleotide sequence of the delta-beta-globin intergenic region of gorilla and phylogenetic relationships between African apes and man. Journal of Molecular Evolution 34:17-30.

Pickford, M. and B. Senut. 2001. The geological and faunal context of Late Miocene hominid remains from Lukeino, Kenya. C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 332:145-152.

Purvis, A. 1995. A composite estimate of primate phylogeny. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B 348:405-421.

Reed, K. E. 1997. Early hominid evolution and ecological change through the African Plio-Pleistocene. Journal of Human Evolution 32:289-322.

Rogers, J. 1993. The phylogenetic relationships among Homo, Pan and Gorilla: A population genetics perspective. Journal of Human Evolution 25: 201-215.

Ruvolo, M. 1994. Molecular evolutionary processes and conflicting gene trees: the hominoid case. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 94:89-113.

Ruvolo, M. 1996. A new approach to studying modern human origins: hypothesis testing with coalescence time distributions. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 5:202-219.

Ruvolo, M. 1997. Molecular phylogeny of the Hominoids: Inferences from multiple independent DNA sequence data sets. Molecular Biology and Evolution 14:248-265.

Ruvolo, M., T. R. Disotell, M. W. Allard, W. M. Brown, and R. L. Honeycutt. 1991. Resolution of the African hominoid trichotomy by use of a mitochondrial gene sequence. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 88:1570-1574.

Ruvolo, M., D. Pan, S. Zehr, T. Goldberg, T. R. Disotell, and M. von Dornum. 1994. Gene trees and hominoid phylogeny. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 91:8900-8904.

Salem, A. H., D. A. Ray, J. Xing, P. A. Callinan, J. S. Myers, D. J. Hedges, R. K. Garber , D. J. Witherspoon, L. B. Jorde, and M. A. Batzer. 2003. Alu elements and hominid phylogenetics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 100(22):12787-12791.

Satta, Y., J. Klein, and N. Takahata. 2000. DNA archives and our nearest relative: The trichotomy problem revisited. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 14:259-275.

Senut, B., M. Pickford, D. Gommery, P. Mein, K. Cheboi, and Y. Coppens. 2001. First hominid from the Miocene (Lukeino formation, Kenya). C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 332:137-144.

Strait, D. S. and F. E. Grine. 1999. Cladistics and early hominid phylogeny. Science 285:1210-1210.

Strait, D. S., F. E. Grine, and M. A. Moniz. 1997. A reappraisal of early hominid phylogeny. Journal of Human Evolution 32:17-82.

Strait, D. S. and B. A. Wood. 1999. Early hominid biogeography. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 96:9196-9200.

Takahata, N. and Y. Satta Y. 1997. Evolution of the primate lineage leading to modern humans: Phylogenetic and demographic inferences from DNA sequences. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 94:4811-4815.

Uchida, A. 1996. What we don't know about great ape variation. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 11:163-168.

Uddin, M., D. E. Wildman, G. Liu, W. Xu, R. M. Johnson, P. R. Hof, G. Kapatos, L. I. Grossman, and M. Goodman. 2004. Sister grouping of chimpanzees and humans as revealed by genome-wide phylogenetic analysis of brain gene expression profiles. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 101(9):2957-2962.

van Schaik, C. P., M. Ancrenaz, G. Borgen, B. Galdikas, C. D. Knott, I. Singleton, A. Suzuki, S. Suci Utami, and M. Merrill. 2003. Orangutan cultures and the evolution of material culture. Science 299(5603):102-105.

White, T. D., G. Suwa, and B. Asfaw. 1994. Australopithecus ramidus, a new species of early hominid from Aramis, Ethiopia. Nature 371:306-312.

White, T. D., G. WoldeGabriel, B. Asfaw, S. Ambrose, Y. Beyene, R. L. Bernor, J.-R. Boisserie, B. Currie, H. Gilbert, Y. Haile-Selassie, W. K. Hart, L. J. Hlusko, F. C. Howell, R. T. Kono, T. Lehmann, A. Louchart, C. O. Lovejoy, P. R. Renne, H. Saegusa, E. S. Vrba, H. Wesselman and G. Suwa. 2006. Asa Issie, Aramis and the origin of Australopithecus. Nature 440:883-889.

WoldeGabriel, G., Y. Haile-Selassie, P. R. Renne, W. K. Hart, S. H. Ambrose, B. Asfaw, G. Heiken, and T. White. 2001. Geology and palaeontology of the Late Miocene Middle Awash Valley, Afar rift, Ethiopia. Nature 412:175-178.

Wood, B. 1996. Human evolution. BioEssays 18:945-954.

Wood, B. and B. G. Richmond. 2000. Human evolution: taxonomy and paleobiology. Journal of Anatomy 197:19-60.

Information on the Internet

Title Illustrations
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
chimpanzee
Scientific Name Pan troglodytes
Location Sweetwaters Game Reserve, Kenya
Comments chimpanzee
Creator Photograph by Gerald and Buff Corsi
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Source Collection CalPhotos
Copyright © 2002 California Academy of Sciences
Lowland gorilla
Scientific Name Gorilla gorilla gorilla
Location San Francisco Zoo, San Francisco, California (US)
Comments Lowland gorilla
Creator Photograph by Gerald and Buff Corsi
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Source Collection CalPhotos
Copyright © 2001 California Academy of Sciences
Orangutan
Scientific Name Pongo pygmaeus
Location San Francisco Zoo, San Francisco, California (US)
Comments Orangutan
Creator Photo by H. Vannoy Davis
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Source Collection CalPhotos
Copyright © 2001 California Academy of Sciences
About This Page

Page: Tree of Life Hominidae. Humans, great apes, and their extinct relatives. The TEXT of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License - Version 3.0. Note that images and other media featured on this page are each governed by their own license, and they may or may not be available for reuse. Click on an image or a media link to access the media data window, which provides the relevant licensing information. For the general terms and conditions of ToL material reuse and redistribution, please see the Tree of Life Copyright Policies.

Citing this page:

Tree of Life Web Project. 1999. Hominidae. Humans, great apes, and their extinct relatives. Version 01 January 1999 (temporary). http://tolweb.org/Hominidae/16299/1999.01.01 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

edit this page
close box

This page is a Tree of Life Branch Page.

Each ToL branch page provides a synopsis of the characteristics of a group of organisms representing a branch of the Tree of Life. The major distinction between a branch and a leaf of the Tree of Life is that each branch can be further subdivided into descendent branches, that is, subgroups representing distinct genetic lineages.

For a more detailed explanation of the different ToL page types, have a look at the Structure of the Tree of Life page.

close box

Hominidae

Page Content

articles & notes

Treehouses

collections

people

Explore Other Groups

random page

  go to the Tree of Life home page
top