primate
Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians ( monkeys and apes, the latter includin ...
s for which a
fossil record
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
exists. Primates are generally thought to have evolved from a small, unspecialized
mammal
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur ...
, which probably fed on insects and fruits. However, the precise source of the primates remains controversial and even their arboreal origin has recently been questioned. As it has been suggested, many other mammal orders are arboreal too, but they have not developed the same characteristics as primates. Nowadays, some well known genera, such as ''
Purgatorius
''Purgatorius'' is a genus of seven extinct eutherian species typically believed to be the earliest example of a primate or a proto-primate, a primatomorph precursor to the Plesiadapiformes, dating to as old as 66 million years ago. The first rem ...
'' and ''
Plesiadapis
''Plesiadapis'' is one of the oldest known primate-like mammal genera which existed about 58–55 million years ago in North America and Europe. ''Plesiadapis'' means "near-Adapis", which is a reference to the adapiform primate of the Eocene per ...
'', thought to be the most ancient primates for a long time, are not usually considered as such by recent authors, who tend to include them in the new order
Plesiadapiformes
Plesiadapiformes ("Adapid-like" or "near Adapiformes") is a group of Primates, a sister of the Dermoptera. While none of the groups normally directly assigned to this group survived, the group appears actually not to be literally extinct (in t ...
, within superorder
Euarchontoglires
Euarchontoglires (synonymous with Supraprimates) is a clade and a superorder of mammals, the living members of which belong to one of the five following groups: rodents, lagomorphs, treeshrews, colugos, and primates.
Evolutionary affinities wi ...
. Some, to avoid confusions, employ the unranked term Euprimates, which excludes Plesiadapiformes. That denomination is not used here.
There is an academic debate on the time the first primates appeared. One of the earliest probable primate fossils is the problematic '' Altiatlasius koulchii'', perhaps an Omomyid, but perhaps a non-Primate
Plesiadapiform
Plesiadapiformes ("Adapid-like" or "near Adapiformes") is a group of Primates, a sister of the Dermoptera. While none of the groups normally directly assigned to this group survived, the group appears actually not to be literally extinct (in t ...
, which lived in Morocco, during the
Paleocene
The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''pala ...
, around 60 Ma. However, other studies, including molecular clock studies, have estimated the origin of the primate branch to have been in the mid-
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...
period, around 85 Ma, that is to say, in the time previous to the extinction of dinosaurs and the successful mammal radiation. Nevertheless, there seems to be a consensus about the monophyletic origin of the order, although the evidence is not clear.
The order Primates, established by
Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...
in
1758
Events
January–March
* January 1 – Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) publishes in Stockholm the first volume (''Animalia'') of the 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', the starting point of modern zoologi ...
, includes humans and their immediate ancestors. However, contrarily to the common opinion, most primates do not have especially large brains. Brain size is a derived character, which only appeared with genus ''
Homo
''Homo'' () is the genus that emerged in the (otherwise extinct) genus '' Australopithecus'' that encompasses the extant species ''Homo sapiens'' ( modern humans), plus several extinct species classified as either ancestral to or closely rela ...
'', and was lacking in the first
hominid
The Hominidae (), whose members are known as the great apes or hominids (), are a taxonomic family of primates that includes eight extant species in four genera: '' Pongo'' (the Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutan); ''Gorilla'' (the ...
. In fact, hominid
encephalization quotient
Encephalization quotient (EQ), encephalization level (EL), or just encephalization is a relative brain size measure that is defined as the ratio between observed to predicted brain mass for an animal of a given size, based on nonlinear regress ...
is only 1.5 Ma more recent than that of some dolphin species. The encephalization quotient of some
cetacean
Cetacea (; , ) is an infraorder of aquatic mammals that includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Key characteristics are their fully aquatic lifestyle, streamlined body shape, often large size and exclusively carnivorous diet. They propel th ...
s is therefore higher than that of most primates, including the nearest relatives of humans, such as ''
Australopithecus
''Australopithecus'' (, ; ) is a genus of early hominins that existed in Africa during the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene. The genus ''Homo'' (which includes modern humans) emerged within ''Australopithecus'', as sister to e.g. ''Australo ...
John G. Fleagle John G. Fleagle is an American anthropologist, primatologist, and Distinguished Professor at State University of New York, Stony Brook.
He graduated from Yale University ''cum laude'' in 1971, and from Harvard University with a M.S. in Anthropolog ...
's 2013 book ''Primate Adaptation and Evolution'' (3rd edition). Parentheses around authors' names (and dates) indicates a change in generic name for the fossil, as stated in the
International Code of Zoological Nomenclature
The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals. It is also informally known as the ICZN Code, for its publisher, the I ...
(ICZN). Since the publication of the book as well as the creation of this article, new fossil taxon have been discovered that has helped improved the taxonomy among primates in general.
Strepsirrhini
Strepsirrhini or Strepsirhini (; ) is a suborder of primates that includes the lemuriform primates, which consist of the lemurs of Madagascar, galagos ("bushbabies") and pottos from Africa, and the lorises from India and southeast Asia. Co ...
Infraorder
Adapiformes
Adapiformes is a group of early primates. Adapiforms radiated throughout much of the northern continental mass (now Europe, Asia and North America), reaching as far south as northern Africa and tropical Asia. They existed from the Eocene to the M ...
Adapiformes
Adapiformes is a group of early primates. Adapiforms radiated throughout much of the northern continental mass (now Europe, Asia and North America), reaching as far south as northern Africa and tropical Asia. They existed from the Eocene to the M ...
Bugtilemur
''Bugtilemur'' is an extinct genus of Strepsirhine primate belonging to the adapiform family Ekgmowechashalidae.It is represented by only one species, ''B. mathesoni'', which was found in the Chitarwata Formation of Pakistan.
When first describ ...
Muangthanhinius
''Muangthanhinius'' is a genus of adapiform primate that lived in Asia during the late Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Per ...
Notharctidae
Notharctidae is an extinct family of adapiform primate
Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers an ...
Trouessart, 1879
**
Notharctinae
Notharctinae is an extinct subfamily of primates that were common in North America during the early and middle Eocene (55-34 million years ago). The six genera that make up the group ('' Cantius'', '' Pelycodus'', '' Copelemur'', '' Hesperolemur ...
Cantius frugivorus
''Cantius frugivorus'' is a species of adapiform primate that lived in North America during the early Eocene.
Morphology
This species had a dental formula of . The incisors are small and vertical in ''Cantius frugivorus'', and the canines ...
Copelemur
''Copelemur'' is a genus of adapiform primate that lived in North America during the early Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene ...
Cercamoniinae
Cercamoniinae is a subfamily within the extinct primate family Notharctidae primarily found in Europe, although a few genera have been found in North America and Africa.
Classification
*Family Notharctidae
**Subfamily Cercamoniinae
***Genus ...
Anthrasimias
''Marcgodinotius'' is a genus of adapiform primate that lived in Asia during the early Eocene. It is a monotypic genus, the only species being ''Marcgodinotius indicus''. Another adapiform primate ''Suratius robustus'' was found in the same hor ...
Adapidae
Adapidae is a family of extinct primates that primarily radiated during the Eocene epoch between about 55 and 34 million years ago.
Adapid systematics and evolutionary relationships are controversial, but there is fairly good evidence from the ...
Trouessart, 1879
**
Adapinae
Adapinae is a subfamily within the extinct primate family Adapidae primarily found in Europe until the end of the Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second ...
Trouesart, 1879
*** ''
Adapis
''Adapis'' is an extinct adapiform primate from the Eocene of Europe. While this genus has traditionally contained five species (''A. magnus, A. bruni, A. collinsonae, A. parisiensis,'' and ''A. sudrei''), recent research has recognized at least ...
Caenopithecinae
Caenopithecinae is a subfamily within the extinct primate family Adapidae
Adapidae is a family of extinct primates that primarily radiated during the Eocene epoch between about 55 and 34 million years ago.
Adapid systematics and evolutiona ...
Darwinius
''Darwinius'' is a genus within the infraorder Adapiformes, a group of basal strepsirrhine primates from the middle Eocene epoch. Its only known species, ''Darwinius masillae'', lived approximately 47 million years ago (Lutetian stage) based ...
Sivaladapidae
Sivaladapidae is an extinct family of adapiform primates from Asia. They survived longer than any other adapiform primate because they were able to shift south as the climate cooled. Their remains date from the Eocene through the Miocene
The ...
Daubentoniidae
''Daubentonia'' is the sole genus of the Daubentoniidae, a family of lemuroid primate native to much of Madagascar.
The aye-aye ''(Daubentonia madagascariensis)'' is the only extant member. However, a second species known as the giant aye-aye ...
Gray, 1863
::* ''
Daubentonia
''Daubentonia'' is the sole genus of the Daubentoniidae, a family of lemuroid primate native to much of Madagascar.
The aye-aye ''(Daubentonia madagascariensis)'' is the only extant member. However, a second species known as the giant aye-aye ...
Plesiopithecus
''Plesiopithecus '' is an extinct genus of early strepsirrhine primate from the late Eocene.
Anatomy
Originally described from the right mandible (lower jaw), its confusing anatomy resulted in it being classified as an ape—its name translate ...
Lemuriformes
Lemuriformes is an infraorder of primate that falls under the suborder Strepsirrhini. It includes the lemurs of Madagascar, as well as the galagos and lorisids of Africa and Asia, although a popular alternative taxonomy places the lorisoids i ...
Basal stem group Lemuriformes
:*Family
Azibiidae
Azibiidae is an extinct family of fossil primate from the late early or early middle Eocene from the Glib Zegdou Formation in the Gour Lazib area of Algeria. They are thought to be related to the living toothcombed primates, the lemurs and lor ...
Gingerich, 1976
::* ''
Algeripithecus
''Algeripithecus'' is an extinct genus of early fossil primate, weighing approximately . Fossils have been found in Algeria dating from 50 to 46 million years ago.
It was once commonly thought to be one of the oldest simian primates (a group th ...
Djebelemuridae
Djebelemuridae is an extinct family of early strepsirrhine primates from Africa. It consists of five genera. The organisms in this family were exceptionally small, and were insectivores. This family dates to the early to late Eocene. Altho ...
Hartenberger and Marandat, 1992
::* unnamed ('Anchomomys')
:::* ''
'Anchomomys' milleri
''Anchomomys' milleri'' is an extinct primate related to lemuriforms that lived in Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 mi ...
'' Simons, 1997
::* ''
Djebelemur
''Djebelemur'' is an extinct genus of early strepsirrhine primate from the late early or early middle Eocene period from the Chambi locality in Tunisia. Although they probably lacked a toothcomb, a specialized dental structure found in living l ...
Plesiopithecus
''Plesiopithecus '' is an extinct genus of early strepsirrhine primate from the late Eocene.
Anatomy
Originally described from the right mandible (lower jaw), its confusing anatomy resulted in it being classified as an ape—its name translate ...
Lemur
Lemurs ( ) (from Latin ''lemures'' – ghosts or spirits) are wet-nosed primates of the superfamily Lemuroidea (), divided into 8 families and consisting of 15 genera and around 100 existing species. They are endemic to the island of Madagas ...
Archaeolemur
''Archaeolemur'' ("ancient lemur" from Ancient Greek From Ancient Greek ἀρχαῖος (arkhaîos), "Ancient" + Modern Latin lemur, "lemur") is an extinct genus of subfossil lemurs known from the Holocene epoch of Madagascar. ''Archaeolemur'' i ...
Hadropithecus
''Hadropithecus'' ("bulky ape" from Greek ἁδρός (hadros), "bulky, large" + πίθηκος (pithekos), "ape") is a medium-sized, extinct genus of lemur, or strepsirrhine primate, from Madagascar that includes a single species, ''Hadrop ...
Archaeoindris
''Archaeoindris fontoynontii'' is an extinct giant lemur and the largest primate known to have evolved on Madagascar, comparable in size to a male gorilla. It belonged to a family of extinct lemurs known as " sloth lemurs" (Palaeopropithecidae ...
Megaladapis
''Megaladapis'' ("Great ''Adapis''" from Ancient Greek μεγαλος (megalos), "great, big" + Modern Latin ''Adapis'', "'' Adapis''"), informally known as the koala lemur, was a genus belonging to the family Megaladapidae, consisting of thre ...
Lemuridae
Lemuridae is a family of strepsirrhine primates native to Madagascar and the Comoros. They are represented by the Lemuriformes in Madagascar with one of the highest concentration of the lemurs. One of five families commonly known as lemurs. Thes ...
Gray, 1821
::* ''
Pachylemur
''Pachylemur'' is an extinct, giant lemur most closely related to the ruffed lemurs of genus ''Varecia''. Two species are known, ''Pachylemur insignis'' and ''Pachylemur jullyi'', although there is some doubt as to whether or not they may actua ...
Lorisidae
Lorisidae (or sometimes Loridae) is a family of strepsirrhine primates. The lorisids are all slim arboreal animals and comprise the lorises, pottos and angwantibos. Lorisids live in tropical, central Africa as well as in south and southeast As ...
Gray, 1821
:::* ''
Karanisia
''Karanisia'' is an extinct genus of strepsirrhine primate from middle Eocene deposits in Egypt.
Classification
Two species are known, ''K. clarki'' and ''K. arenula''. Originally considered a crown lorisid, more comprehensive phylogenetic a ...
Galagidae
Galagos , also known as bush babies, or ''nagapies'' (meaning "night monkeys" in Afrikaans), are small nocturnal primates native to continental, sub-Sahara Africa, and make up the family Galagidae (also sometimes called Galagonidae). They are ...
Gray, 1825
:::* ''
Galago
Galagos , also known as bush babies, or ''nagapies'' (meaning "night monkeys" in Afrikaans), are small nocturnal primates native to continental, sub-Sahara Africa, and make up the family Galagidae (also sometimes called Galagonidae). They are ...
Komba Komba is a given name. Notable people with the name include:
*Komba Claudius Gbamanja, Sierra Leonean politician from the opposition Sierra Leone People's Party
*Samuel Komba Kambo, retired captain in the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces
*Komb ...
Haplorhini
Haplorhini (), the haplorhines ( Greek for "simple-nosed") or the "dry-nosed" primates, is a suborder of primates containing the tarsiers and the simians (Simiiformes or anthropoids), as sister of the Strepsirrhini ("moist-nosed"). The name is so ...
::* ''
Teilhardina
''Teilhardina'' (, ) was an early marmoset-like primate that lived in Europe, North America and Asia during the Early Eocene epoch, about 56-47 million years ago. The paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson is credited with naming it after the Fr ...
'' Simpson, 1940
:::* ''Teilhardina asiatica'' Ni ''et al.'', 2004
:::* ''Teilhardina belgica'' (Teilhard de Chardin, 1927)
Tarsiiformes
Tarsiiformes are a group of primates that once ranged across Europe, northern Africa, Asia, and North America, but whose extant species are all found in the islands of Southeast Asia. Tarsiers (family Tarsiidae) are the only living members ...
Tarsiiformes
Tarsiiformes are a group of primates that once ranged across Europe, northern Africa, Asia, and North America, but whose extant species are all found in the islands of Southeast Asia. Tarsiers (family Tarsiidae) are the only living members ...
, ''incertae sedis''
::* ''
Altanius
''Altanius'' is a genus of extinct primates found in the early Eocene of Mongolia. Though its phylogenetic relationship is questionable, many have placed it as either a primitive omomyid or as a member of the sister group to both adapoids and o ...
Altiatlasius
''Altiatlasius'' ("High Atlas" from Latin altus, "high" + Atlas, "Atlas") is an extinct genus of mammal, which may have been the oldest known primate, dating to the Late Paleocene (c.57 ma) from Morocco. The only species, ''Altiatlasius koulc ...
Archicebidae
''Archicebus'' is a genus of fossil primates that lived in the early Eocene forests (~55.8–54.8 million years ago) of what is now Jingzhou in the Hubei Province in central China, discovered in 2003. The only known species, ''A. achil ...
:* ''
Archicebus
''Archicebus'' is a genus of fossil primates that lived in the early Eocene forests (~55.8–54.8 million years ago) of what is now Jingzhou in the Hubei Province in central China, discovered in 2003. The only known species, ''A. achil ...
'' Ni et al., 2013
::* ''Archicebus achilles'' Ni et al., 2013
Omomyidae
Omomyidae is a group of early primates that radiated during the Eocene epoch between about (mya). Fossil omomyids are found in North America, Europe & Asia making it one of two groups of Eocene primates with a geographic distribution spanning ...
Necrolemur
''Necrolemur'' is a small bodied omomyid with body mass estimations ranging from 114 grams to 346 grams. ''Necrolemur''’s teeth feature broad basins and blunt cusps, suggesting their diet consisted of mostly soft fruit
A berry is a small, p ...
Anaptomorphinae
Anaptomorphinae is a pre-historic group of primates known from Eocene fossils in North America and Europe and later periods of Paleocene Asia, and are a sub-family of omomyids. The anaptomorphines is a paraphyletic group consisting of the two t ...
Teilhardina
''Teilhardina'' (, ) was an early marmoset-like primate that lived in Europe, North America and Asia during the Early Eocene epoch, about 56-47 million years ago. The paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson is credited with naming it after the Fr ...
Bownomomys
''Bownomomys'' was an early marmoset-like primate that lived in North America during the Early Eocene epoch, about 56-50 million years ago.
Taxonomy
''Teilhardina americana'' and ''T. crassidens'' were originally named as species of ''Teilhar ...
Shoshonius
''Shoshonius'' (named after the Shoshone tribe) is an extinct genus of omomyid primate that lived during the Eocene (~56-34 million years ago). Specimens identified as ''Shoshonius'' have been found exclusively in central Wyoming and the genus c ...
Rooneyia
''Rooneyia viejaensis'' is a relatively small primate belonging to the extinct monotypic genus ''Rooneyia''. ''Rooneyia viejaensis'' is known from the North American Eocene of the Sierra Vieja of West Texas; the species is only known from the typ ...
Tarsiidae
Tarsiers ( ) are haplorhine primates of the family Tarsiidae, which is itself the lone extant family within the infraorder Tarsiiformes. Although the group was once more widespread, all of its species living today are found in Maritime Southeas ...
Tarsius
''Tarsius'' is a genus of tarsiers, small primates native to islands of Southeast Asia. Until 2010, all tarsier species were typically assigned to this genus, but a revision of the family Tarsiidae restored the generic status of ''Cephalopach ...
:*'' Afrasia'' Chaimanee et al. 2012
::*''Afrasia djijidae'' Chaimanee et al. 2012
:* ''
Afrotarsius
''Afrotarsius'' is a primate found in the Paleogene of Africa.
The first species to be named, ''Afrotarsius chatrathi'', was named in 1985 on the basis of a single lower jaw from the Oligocene of Fayum, Egypt, and tentatively referred to the ...
Eosimiidae
Eosimiidae is the possible family of extinct primates believed to be the earliest simians.
Taxonomy
When they were discovered the possibility that Eosimians were outside and ancestral to Simians was considered (Culotta 1992), but subsequent w ...
:* ''
Eosimias
''Eosimias'' is a genus of early primates, first discovered and identified in 1999 from fossils collected in the Shanghuang fissure-fillings of Liyang, the southern city of Jiangsu Province, China. It is a part of the family Eosimiidae, and in ...
Phileosimias
''Phileosimias'' ("'' Eosimias'' ally") is an extinct genus of primates with two species, ''P. kamli'' and ''P. bahuiorum'', that are believed to be amongst the early simians.
Marivaux ''et al.'' announced in 2005 their discovery of fossils ...
'' Marivaux, Antoine, Baqri, Benammi, and Chaimanee, 2005
::* ''Phileosimias brahuiorum'' Marivaux, Antoine, Baqri, Benammi, and Chaimanee, 2005
::* ''Phileosimias kamali'' Marivaux, Antoine, Baqri, Benammi, and Chaimanee, 2005
:* '' Phenacopithecus'' Beard and Wang, 2004
::* ''Phenacopithecus krishtalkai'' Beard and Wang, 2004
::* ''Phenacopithecus xueshii'' Beard and Wang, 2004
Simiiformes
The simians, anthropoids, or higher primates are an infraorder (Simiiformes ) of primates containing all animals traditionally called monkeys and apes. More precisely, they consist of the parvorders New World monkeys (Platyrrhini) and Cata ...
Simiiformes
The simians, anthropoids, or higher primates are an infraorder (Simiiformes ) of primates containing all animals traditionally called monkeys and apes. More precisely, they consist of the parvorders New World monkeys (Platyrrhini) and Cata ...
, ''incertae sedis''
:*
Amphipithecidae
The Amphipithecidae were simian primates that lived in Late Eocene and Early Oligocene. Fossils have been found in Myanmar, Thailand, and Pakistan. The limited fossil evidence is consistent with, but not exclusive to, arboreal quadrupedalism. In ...
Serapia
The Serapia or Sarapia was a Roman Imperial religious festival devoted to the Greco-Egyptian god Serapis. It is found as an official holiday on 25 April as late as the Calendar of Filocalus in 354 AD. In farmers' almanacs ''( menologia rustica)' ...
Parapithecidae
Parapithecidae is an extinct family of primates which lived in the Eocene and Oligocene periods in Egypt. Eocene fossils from Myanmar are sometimes included in the family in addition. They showed certain similarities in dentition to Condylarthra, ...
Parapithecus
''Parapithecus'' is an extinct genus of primate that lived during the Late Eocene- Earliest Oligocene in what is now Egypt. Its members are considered to be basal anthropoids and the genus is closely related to ''Apidium
The genus ''Apidium'' ...
Qatrania
Qatrania is an extinct genus of primate
Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simia ...
Biretia
''Biretia'' is an extinct genus of Old World monkey belonging to the extinct family Parapithecidae. Fossils are found from Late Eocene strata in Egypt.
The first discovery of ''Biretia'' was a single tooth dated to approximately 37 mya, which w ...
Branisella
''Branisella'' is an extinct genus of New World monkey from the Salla Formation of what is now Bolivia during the Late Oligocene, approximately 26 million years ago (Deseadan), comprising only the species ''Branisella boliviana''.Atelidae Gray, 1825
**
Pitheciinae
Pitheciinae is a subfamily of the New World monkey family Pitheciidae. It contains three genera and 14 species. Pitheciines are forest dwellers from northern and central South America, east of the Andes.
They are small to medium-sized primat ...
Cebupithecia
''Cebupithecia'' is an extinct genus of New World monkeys from the Middle Miocene (Laventan in the South American land mammal ages; 13.8 to 11.8 Ma). Its remains have been found at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte of La Venta in the Honda Group of ...
Homunculus
A homunculus ( , , ; "little person") is a representation of a small human being, originally depicted as small statues made out of clay. Popularized in sixteenth-century alchemy and nineteenth-century fiction, it has historically referred to the ...
Atelinae
The Atelinae are a subfamily of New World monkeys in the family Atelidae, and includes the various spider and woolly monkeys. The primary distinguishing feature of the atelines is their long prehensile tails, which can support their entire body w ...
Atelinae
The Atelinae are a subfamily of New World monkeys in the family Atelidae, and includes the various spider and woolly monkeys. The primary distinguishing feature of the atelines is their long prehensile tails, which can support their entire body w ...
, ''incertae sedis''
*** ''
Protopithecus
''Protopithecus'' is an extinct genus of large New World monkey that lived during the Pleistocene. Fossils have been found in the Toca da Boa Vista cave of Brazil, as well as other locales in the country. Fossils of another large, but less rob ...
Cebidae
The Cebidae are one of the five families of New World monkeys now recognised. Extant members are the capuchin and squirrel monkeys. These species are found throughout tropical and subtropical South and Central America.
Characteristics
Cebid m ...
Dolichocebus
''Dolichocebus'' is an extinct New World monkey genus that lived in Argentine Patagonia (Sarmiento Formation) from about 21 to 17.5 million years ago during the Early Miocene (Colhuehuapian in the SALMA classification).
Killikaike
''Killikaike'' is an extinct genus of New World monkey. The genus includes one species, ''Killikaike blakei'', that lived in Argentina during the Early Miocene.
''Killikaike blakei'' was collected in southern-most Argentina in January, 2005 and t ...
Tremacebus
''Tremacebus'' is an extinct genus of New World monkeys from the Early Miocene (Colhuehuapian in the SALMA classification). The type species is ''T. harringtoni''.
Description
''Tremacebus'' was about in length, and would have resembled ...
Callitrichinae
The Callitrichidae (also called Arctopitheci or Hapalidae) are a family of New World monkeys, including marmosets, tamarins, and lion tamarins. At times, this group of animals has been regarded as a subfamily, called the Callitrichinae, of the fa ...
Mohanamico
''Mohanamico'' is an extinct genus of New World monkeys from the Middle Miocene (Laventan in the South American land mammal ages; 13.8 to 11.8 Ma). Its remains have been found at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte of La Venta in the Honda Group of Co ...
Callitrichinae
The Callitrichidae (also called Arctopitheci or Hapalidae) are a family of New World monkeys, including marmosets, tamarins, and lion tamarins. At times, this group of animals has been regarded as a subfamily, called the Callitrichinae, of the fa ...
, ''incertae sedis''
*** ''
Patasola
The Patasola or "one leg" is one of many legends in South American folklore about female monsters from the jungle, appearing to male hunters or loggers in the middle of the wilderness when they think about women. The Patasola appears in the form ...
'' Kay & Meldrum, 1997
**** ''Patasola magdalenae'' Kay & Meldrum, 1997
*** ''
Lagonimico
''Lagonimico'' is an extinct genus of New World monkeys from the Middle Miocene (Laventan in the South American land mammal ages; 13.8 to 11.8 Ma). Its remains have been found at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte of La Venta in the Honda Group of Co ...
Catarrhini
The parvorder Catarrhini , catarrhine monkeys, Old World anthropoids, or Old World monkeys, consisting of the Cercopithecoidea and apes (Hominoidea). In 1812, Geoffroy grouped those two groups together and established the name Catarrhini, "Old ...
=
Catarrhini
The parvorder Catarrhini , catarrhine monkeys, Old World anthropoids, or Old World monkeys, consisting of the Cercopithecoidea and apes (Hominoidea). In 1812, Geoffroy grouped those two groups together and established the name Catarrhini, "Old ...
Kamoyapithecus
''Kamoyapithecus'' ('Kamoya' + Greek - “ape”) was a primate that lived in Africa during the late Oligocene period, about 24.2-27.5 million years ago. First found in 1948 as part of a University of California, Berkeley expedition, it was at fi ...
Oligopithecidae
Oligopithecidae is an extinct basal Catarrhine family from the late Eocene of Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa ...
Kay & Williams, 1994
::* ''
Catopithecus
''Catopithecus'' is an early catarrhine fossil. It is known from more than 16 specimens of a single species, ''Catopithecus browni'', found in the Jebel Qatrani Formation of the Fayum Province, Egypt. The Jebel Qatrani Formation has been divided ...
Oligopithecus
''Oligopithecus'' is a fossil primate that lived in Africa during the Early Oligocene. It is represented by one species, ''Oligopithecus savagei'', known from one jaw bone found in Egypt.
Morphology
''Oligopithecus savagei'' has a dental formul ...
Propliopithecus
''Propliopithecus'' is an extinct genus of primate.
The 40 cm (1 ft 4 in) long creature resembled today's gibbons. Its eyes faced forwards, giving it stereoscopical vision. ''Propliopithecus'' was most likely an omnivore. It is possibl ...
Aegyptopithecus
''Aegyptopithecus'' ("Egyptian ape", from Greek ''Αίγυπτος'' "Egypt" and ''πίθηκος'' "ape") is an early fossil catarrhine that predates the divergence between hominoids ( apes) and cercopithecids (Old World monkeys). It is kno ...
Pliopithecoidea
Pliopithecoidea is an extinct superfamily of catarrhine primates that inhabited Asia and Europe during the Miocene. Although they were once a widespread and diverse group of primates, the pliopithecoids have no living descendants.
History of d ...
Epipliopithecus
''Epipliopithecus vindobonensis'' is an extinct species of pliopithecoid primate recovered from the Middle Miocene deposits of Devínska Nová Ves fissure in western Slovakia. ''Epipliopithecus'' is one of the few pliopithecoids for which both c ...
Pliopithecus
''Pliopithecus'' {meaning "more ape") is a genus of extinct primates of the Miocene. It was discovered in 1837 by Édouard Lartet (1801–1871) in France, with fossils subsequently discovered in Switzerland, Slovakia and Spain.
''Pliopithecus'' ...
Pliopithecoidea
Pliopithecoidea is an extinct superfamily of catarrhine primates that inhabited Asia and Europe during the Miocene. Although they were once a widespread and diverse group of primates, the pliopithecoids have no living descendants.
History of d ...
Dendropithecus
''Dendropithecus'' is an extinct genus of apes native to East Africa between 20 and 15 million years ago. ''Dendropithecus'' was originally suggested to be related to modern gibbons, based primarily on similarities in size, dentition, and skeleta ...
Micropithecus
''Micropithecus'' is an extinct genus of primates that lived in East Africa about 19 to 15 million years ago, during the early Miocene. The genus and its type species, ''Micropithecus clarki'', were first scientifically described in 1978.J ...
Saadanius
''Saadanius'' is a genus of fossil primate dating to the Oligocene that is closely related to the common ancestor of the Old World monkeys and apes, collectively known as catarrhines. It is represented by a single species, ''Saadanius hijaze ...
Cercopithecoidea
Old World monkey is the common English name for a family of primates known taxonomically as the Cercopithecidae (). Twenty-four genera and 138 species are recognized, making it the largest primate family. Old World monkey genera include baboons ...
Victoriapithecus
''Victoriapithecus macinnesi'' was a primate
Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simian ...
Cercopithecidae
Old World monkey is the common English name for a family of primates known taxonomically as the Cercopithecidae (). Twenty-four genera and 138 species are recognized, making it the largest primate family. Old World monkey genera include baboons ...
Gray, 1821
**
Colobinae
The Colobinae or leaf-eating monkeys are a subfamily of the Old World monkey family that includes 61 species in 11 genera, including the black-and-white colobus, the large-nosed proboscis monkey, and the gray langurs. Some classifications s ...
Jernon, 1867
** Tribus:
Colobini
Colobini is a tribe of Old World monkeys that includes all of the black-and-white colobus, red colobus, and olive colobus monkeys.
Classification
* Family Cercopithecidae
** Subfamily Cercopithecinae
** Subfamily Colobinae
*** Tribe Colobini ...
*** ''
Microcolobus
''Microcolobus'' is an extinct genus of Old world monkey that lived in eastern Africa during the Late Miocene and is regarded as the first known member of the Colobinae.
Taxonomy
''Microcolobus'' was described in 1986 from remains that were found ...
Rhinocolobus
''Rhinocolobus'' is an extinct genus of monkey closely related to modern colobus monkeys. It lived in eastern Africa during the Plio-Pleistocene, existing as recently as 1.5 million years ago.
Taxonomy
Fossils of ''Rhinocolobus'' were found in ...
Colobinae
The Colobinae or leaf-eating monkeys are a subfamily of the Old World monkey family that includes 61 species in 11 genera, including the black-and-white colobus, the large-nosed proboscis monkey, and the gray langurs. Some classifications s ...
, ''incertae sedis''
*** ''
Mesopithecus
''Mesopithecus'' ("middle monkey" for being between ''Hylobates'' and '' Semnopithecus'' in build) is an extinct genus of Old World monkey that lived in Europe and Asia 7 to 5 million years ago.
''Mesopithecus'' resembled a modern macaque, with ...
Rhinopithecus
__NOTOC__
Snub-nosed monkeys are a group of Old World monkeys and make up the entirety of the genus ''Rhinopithecus''. The genus is rare and not fully researched. Some taxonomists group snub-nosed monkeys together with the genus ''Pygathrix''.
Sn ...
'' É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1812
**** Subgenus: ''Rhinopithecus'' É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1812
**** '' Rhinopithecus (Rhinopithecus) lantianensis'' Hu & Qi, 1978
*** ''
Dolichopithecus
''Dolichopithecus'' is an extinct genus of Old World monkey that lived in Europe during the Late Miocene and Pliocene.
Taxonomy
The type species ''Dolichopithecus ruscinensis'' was first described in 1889 by Charles Depéret, based on fossil re ...
Semnopithecus
Gray langurs, also called Hanuman langurs and Hanuman monkeys, are Old World monkeys native to the Indian subcontinent constituting the genus ''Semnopithecus''. Traditionally only one species ''Semnopithecus entellus'' was recognized, but since a ...
Parapresbytis
''Parapresbytis'' is an extinct genus of colobine monkey that lived in northeast Asia during the Mid-Late Pliocene. It is represented by single species known as ''Parapresbytis eohanuman'', whose remains have been found throughout the Transbaikal ...
Cercopithecoides
''Cercopithecoides'' is an extinct genus of colobine monkey from Africa which lived during the latest Miocene to the Pleistocene period. There are several recognized species, with the smallest close in size to some of the larger extant colobines, ...
Cercopithecinae
The Cercopithecinae are a subfamily of the Old World monkeys, which comprises roughly 71 species, including the baboons, the macaques, and the vervet monkeys. Most cercopithecine monkeys are limited to sub-Saharan Africa, although the macaqu ...
Gray, 1821
** Tribus:
Papionini
Papionini is a tribe of Old World monkeys that includes several large monkey species, which include the macaques of North Africa and Asia, as well as the baboons, geladas, mangabeys, kipunji, drills, and mandrills, which are essentially from sub- ...
Macaca florentina
The Barbary macaque (''Macaca sylvanus''), also known as Barbary ape, is a macaque species native to the Atlas Mountains of Algeria, Libya, Tunisia and Morocco, along with a small introduced population in Gibraltar.
It is the type species of the ...
Macaca libyca
''Macaca libyca'' is a prehistoric macaque from the Late Miocene of Wadi Natrun, Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Afri ...
'' Stromer, 1920
**** ''
Macaca majori
''Macaca majori'', commonly known as the dwarf macaque, is a prehistoric macaque from the Early Pleistocene of Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian language, Italian, Corsican language, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna ...
Paradolichopithecus
''Paradolichopithecus'' is an extinct genus of cercopithecine monkey once found throughout Eurasia. The type species, ''P. arvernensis'', was a very large monkey, comparable in size to a mandrill. The genus was most closely related to macaques, ...
Dinopithecus
''Dinopithecus'' ("terrible ape") is an extinct genus of very large primate closely related to the baboon that lived during the Pliocene to the Pleistocene epoch of South Africa and Ethiopia. It was named by British paleontologist Robert Broom i ...
Gorgopithecus
''Gorgopithecus'' ("fierce ape" from Ancient Greek γοργος (gorgos), "fierce" + πίθηκος (píthēkos), "ape") is an extinct genus of primate, in the old word monkey family Cercopithecidae, closely related to the baboons.
There is only o ...
Papio
Baboons are primates comprising the genus ''Papio'', one of the 23 genera of Old World monkeys. There are six species of baboon: the hamadryas baboon, the Guinea baboon, the olive baboon, the yellow baboon, the Kinda baboon and the chacm ...
Hominoidea
Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a clade of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and as well as Europe in prehistory), which together with its sister g ...
=
*
Hominoidea
Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a clade of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and as well as Europe in prehistory), which together with its sister g ...
, ''incertae sedis''
:* ''
Otavipithecus
''Otavipithecus namibiensis'' is an extinct species of ape from the Miocene of Namibia. The fossils were discovered at the Berg Aukas mines in the foothills of the Otavi mountains, hence the generic name. The species was described in 1992 by G ...
Proconsulidae
Proconsulidae is an early family of primates that lived during the Miocene epoch in Kenya, and was restricted to Africa. Members of the family have a mixture of Old World monkey and ape characteristics, so the placement in the ape superfamily Hom ...
Ekembo
''Ekembo'' is an early ape (hominoid) genus found in 17- to 20-million-year-old sediments from the Miocene epoch. Specimens have been found at sites around the ancient Kisingiri volcano in Kenya on Rusinga Island and Mfangano Island in Lake Victo ...
'' McNulty ''et al.'', 2015
:::* ''
Ekembo heseloni
''Ekembo'' is an early ape (hominoid) genus found in 17- to 20-million-year-old sediments from the Miocene epoch. Specimens have been found at sites around the ancient Kisingiri volcano in Kenya on Rusinga Island and Mfangano Island in Lake V ...
'' (Walker ''et al.'', 1993)
:::* ''
Ekembo nyanzae
''Ekembo nyanzae'', originally classed as a species of '' Proconsul'', is a species of fossil primate first discovered by Louis Leakey on Rusinga Island in 1942, which he published in ''Nature'' in 1943. It is also known by the name ''Dryopith ...
'' (Le Gros Clark & Leakey, 1950)
::* ''
Proconsul
A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority.
In the Roman Republic, military command, or ' ...
'' Hopwood, 1933
:::* ''
Proconsul africanus
''Proconsul africanus'' was an ape which lived from about 23 to 14 million years ago during the Miocene epoch. It was a fruit eater and its brain was larger than that of a monkey, although probably not as large as that of a modern ape.
It was na ...
Nyanzapithecinae
The Nyanzapithecinae or Nyanzapithecines are a subfamily of extinct Dendropithecidae as sister of '' Simiolus''. The group contains '' Rangwapithecus'', '' Turkanapithecus'', '' Rukwapithecus'', ''Oreopithecus
''Oreopithecus'' (from the Greek ...
Nyanzapithecus pickfordi
''Nyanzapithecus pickfordi'' is an extinct species of primate from the Middle Miocene of Maboko Island, Nyanza Province, Kenya. It had an average body mass of around .
Taxonomy
Fifteen cranio-dental specimens of this species were collected from ...
Oreopithecus
''Oreopithecus'' (from the Greek , and , , meaning "hill-ape") is an extinct genus of hominoid primate from the Miocene epoch whose fossils have been found in today's Tuscany and Sardinia in Italy. It existed nine to seven million years ago in ...
Rangwapithecus
''Rangwapithecus'' is an extinct genus of ape from the Early Miocene of Kenya. Late Miocene phalanges from Hungary have also been assigned to this genus, but were later reclassified as ''Dryopithecus''.
Description
''Rangwapithecus'' weighed app ...
Pliobates cataloniae
''Pliobates cataloniae'' is a species of stem-ape that was found to be the sister taxon to gibbons and great apes like humans.
Its anatomy is gibbon-like; prior to this discovery, it was assumed that the ancestral ape bauplan
A body plan, ( ...
Afropithecus
''Afropithecus'' is a genus of Miocene hominoid with the sole species ''Afropithecus turkanensis'', it was excavated from a small site near Lake Turkana called Kalodirr in northern Kenya in 1986 and named by Richard Leakey and Meave Leakey. ...
Nacholapithecus
''Nacholapithecus kerioi'' was an ape that lived 14-15 million years ago during the Middle Miocene. Fossils have been found in the Nachola formation in northern Kenya. The only member of the genus ''Nacholapithecus'', it is thought to be a key ge ...
Equatorius
''Equatorius'' is an extinct genus of kenyapithecine primate found in central Kenya at the Tugen Hills. Thirty-eight large teeth belonging to this middle Miocene hominid in addition to a mandibular and partially complete skeleton dated 15.58 Ma ...
'' Ward ''et al.'', 1999
**** '' Equatorius africanus'' (Le Gros Clark and Leaky, 1950)
*
Hominidae
The Hominidae (), whose members are known as the great apes or hominids (), are a taxonomic family of primates that includes eight extant species in four genera: '' Pongo'' (the Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutan); ''Gorilla'' (the ...
Kenyapithecus
''Kenyapithecus wickeri'' is a fossil ape discovered by Louis Leakey in 1961 at a site called Fort Ternan in Kenya. The upper jaw and teeth were dated to 14 million years ago.
One theory states that ''Kenyapithecus'' may be the common ances ...
Ponginae
Ponginae , also known as the Asian hominids, is a subfamily in the family Hominidae. Once a diverse lineage of Eurasian apes, the subfamily has only one extant genus, '' Pongo'' (orangutans), which contains three extant species; the Sumatran oran ...
Elliot, 1913
***
Sivapithecini
Ponginae , also known as the Asian hominids, is a subfamily in the family Hominidae. Once a diverse lineage of Eurasian apes, the subfamily has only one extant genus, '' Pongo'' (orangutans), which contains three extant species; the Sumatran oran ...
**** ''
Sivapithecus
''Sivapithecus'' () (syn: ''Ramapithecus)'' is a genus of extinct apes. Fossil remains of animals now assigned to this genus, dated from 12.2 million years old in the Miocene, have been found since the 19th century in the Siwalik Hills of the I ...
Gigantopithecus
''Gigantopithecus'' ( ; ) is an extinct genus of ape from roughly 2 million to 350,000 years ago during the Early to Middle Pleistocene of southern China, represented by one species, ''Gigantopithecus blacki''. Potential identifications have als ...
'' von Koenigswald, 1935
***** ''
Gigantopithecus blacki
''Gigantopithecus'' ( ; ) is an extinct genus of ape from roughly 2 million to 350,000 years ago during the Early to Middle Pleistocene of southern China, represented by one species, ''Gigantopithecus blacki''. Potential identifications have also ...
Ankarapithecus
''Ankarapithecus'' is a genus of extinct ape. It was probably frugivorous, and would have weighed about . Its remains were found close to Ankara in central Turkey beginning in the 1950s. It lived during the Late Miocene
The Late Miocene (also ...
Lufengpithecus
''Lufengpithecus'' () is an extinct genus of ape in the subfamily Ponginae. It is known from thousands of dental remains and a few skulls and probably weighed about . It contains three species: ''L. lufengensis'', ''L. hudienensis'' and ''L. k ...
Lufengpithecus lufengensis
''Lufengpithecus'' () is an extinct genus of ape in the subfamily Ponginae. It is known from thousands of dental remains and a few skulls and probably weighed about . It contains three species: ''L. lufengensis'', ''L. hudienensis'' and ''L. ke ...
'' Xu ''et al.'', 1978
***
Homininae
Homininae (), also called "African hominids" or "African apes", is a subfamily of Hominidae. It includes two tribes, with their extant as well as extinct species: 1) the tribe Hominini (with the genus ''Homo'' including modern humans and numerou ...
Gray, 1825
****
Dryopithecini
Dryopithecini is an extinct tribe of Eurasian and African great apes that are believed to be close to the ancestry of gorillas, chimpanzees and humans. Members of this tribe are known as dryopithecines.
Taxonomy
* Tribe Dryopithecini†
** ''Ke ...
Hispanopithecus
''Hispanopithecus'' is a genus of apes that inhabited Europe during the Miocene epoch. It was first identified in a 1944 paper by J. F. Villalta and M. Crusafont in . Anthropologists disagree as to whether ''Hispanopithecus'' belongs to the sub ...
Anoiapithecus
''Anoiapithecus'' is an extinct ape genus thought to be closely related to ''Dryopithecus''. Both genera lived during the Miocene, approximately 12 million years ago. Fossil specimens named by Salvador Moyà-Solà are known from the deposits f ...
Dryopithecus wuduensis
''Dryopithecus'' is a genus of extinct great apes from the middle–late Miocene boundary of Europe 12.5 to 11.1 million years ago (mya). Since its discovery in 1856, the genus has been subject to taxonomic turmoil, with numerous new species b ...
Chororapithecus
''Chororapithecus'' is an extinct great ape from the Afar region of Ethiopia roughly 8 million years ago during the Late Miocene, comprising one species, ''C. abyssinicus''. It is known from 9 isolated teeth discovered in a 2005–2007 survey of ...
Hominini
The Hominini form a taxonomic tribe of the subfamily Homininae ("hominines"). Hominini includes the extant genera ''Homo'' (humans) and '' Pan'' (chimpanzees and bonobos) and in standard usage excludes the genus ''Gorilla'' (gorillas).
The ...
***** ''
Graecopithecus
''Graecopithecus'' is an extinct species of hominid that lived in southeast Europe during the late Miocene around 7.2 million years ago. Originally identified by a single lower jaw bone bearing a molar tooth found in Pyrgos Vasilissis, Athens, ...
Sahelanthropus
''Sahelanthropus tchadensis'' is an extinct species of the Homininae (African apes) dated to about , during the Miocene epoch. The species, and its genus ''Sahelanthropus'', was announced in 2002, based mainly on a partial cranium, nicknamed '' ...
'' Brunet ''et al.'', 2002
****** ''
Sahelanthropus tchadensis
''Sahelanthropus tchadensis'' is an extinct species of the Homininae (African apes) dated to about , during the Miocene epoch. The species, and its genus ''Sahelanthropus'', was announced in 2002, based mainly on a partial cranium, nicknamed ''T ...
Orrorin tugenensis
''Orrorin tugenensis'' is a postulated early species of Homininae, estimated at and discovered in 2000. It is not confirmed how ''Orrorin'' is related to modern humans. Its discovery was used to argue against the hypothesis that australopitheci ...
'' Senut ''et al.'', 2001
***** ''
Ardipithecus
''Ardipithecus'' is a genus of an extinct hominine that lived during the Late Miocene and Early Pliocene epochs in the Afar Depression, Ethiopia. Originally described as one of the earliest ancestors of humans after they diverged from the chimp ...
'' White ''et al.'', 1995
****** ''
Ardipithecus ramidus
''Ardipithecus ramidus'' is a species of australopithecine from the Afar region of Early Pliocene Ethiopia 4.4 million years ago (mya). ''A. ramidus'', unlike modern hominids, has adaptations for both walking on two legs ( bipedality) and life i ...
'' White ''et al.'', 1994
****** ''
Ardipithecus kadabba
''Ardipithecus kadabba'' is the scientific classification given to fossil remains "known only from teeth and bits and pieces of skeletal bones", originally estimated to be 5.8 to 5.2 million years old, and later revised to 5.77 to 5.54 million ye ...
''
***** ''
Australopithecus
''Australopithecus'' (, ; ) is a genus of early hominins that existed in Africa during the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene. The genus ''Homo'' (which includes modern humans) emerged within ''Australopithecus'', as sister to e.g. ''Australo ...
'' Dart, 1925 - paraphyletic in respect to ''
Paranthropus
''Paranthropus'' is a genus of extinct hominin which contains two widely accepted species: '' P. robustus'' and '' P. boisei''. However, the validity of ''Paranthropus'' is contested, and it is sometimes considered to be synonymous with ''Austr ...
'' and ''
Homo
''Homo'' () is the genus that emerged in the (otherwise extinct) genus '' Australopithecus'' that encompasses the extant species ''Homo sapiens'' ( modern humans), plus several extinct species classified as either ancestral to or closely rela ...
''
****** ''
Australopithecus anamensis
''Australopithecus anamensis'' is a hominin species that lived approximately between 4.2 and 3.8 million years ago and is the oldest known ''Australopithecus'' species, living during the Plio-Pleistocene era.
Nearly one hundred fossil specimens ...
'' Leakey ''et al.'', 1995
****** ''
Australopithecus afarensis
''Australopithecus afarensis'' is an extinct species of australopithecine which lived from about 3.9–2.9 million years ago (mya) in the Pliocene of East Africa. The first fossils were discovered in the 1930s, but major fossil finds would no ...
'' Johanson ''et al.'', 1978
****** ''
Australopithecus bahrelghazali
''Australopithecus bahrelghazali'' is an extinct species of australopithecine discovered in 1995 at Koro Toro, Bahr el Gazel, Chad, existing around 3.5 million years ago in the Pliocene. It is the first and only australopithecine known from Ce ...
'' Brunet ''et al.'', 1995
****** ''
Australopithecus africanus
''Australopithecus africanus'' is an extinct species of australopithecine which lived between about 3.3 and 2.1 million years ago in the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene of South Africa. The species has been recovered from Taung, Sterkfontei ...
'' Dart, 1925
****** ''
Australopithecus garhi
''Australopithecus garhi'' is a species of australopithecine from the Bouri Formation in the Afar Region of Ethiopia 2.6–2.5 million years ago (mya) during the Early Pleistocene. The first remains were described in 1999 based on several skele ...
'' Asfaw ''et al.'', 1999
****** ''
Australopithecus sediba
''Australopithecus sediba'' is an extinct species of australopithecine recovered from Malapa Cave, Cradle of Humankind, South Africa. It is known from a partial juvenile skeleton, the holotype MH1, and a partial adult female skeleton, the para ...
''Berger ''et al.'', 2010
***** ''
Paranthropus
''Paranthropus'' is a genus of extinct hominin which contains two widely accepted species: '' P. robustus'' and '' P. boisei''. However, the validity of ''Paranthropus'' is contested, and it is sometimes considered to be synonymous with ''Austr ...
'' Broom, 1938
****** ''
Paranthropus aethiopicus
''Paranthropus aethiopicus'' is an extinct species of robust australopithecine from the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene of East Africa about 2.7–2.3 million years ago. However, it is much debated whether or not ''Paranthropus'' is an invali ...
'' Arambourg & Coppens, 1968
****** ''
Paranthropus boisei
''Paranthropus boisei'' is a species of australopithecine from the Early Pleistocene of East Africa about 2.5 to 1.15 million years ago. The holotype specimen, OH 5, was discovered by palaeoanthropologist Mary Leakey in 1959, and described by ...
'' Leakey, 1959
****** ''
Paranthropus robustus
''Paranthropus robustus'' is a species of robust australopithecine from the Early and possibly Middle Pleistocene of the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa, about 2.27 to 0.87 (or, more conservatively, 2 to 1) million years ago. It has been iden ...
'' Broom, 1938
***** ''
Homo
''Homo'' () is the genus that emerged in the (otherwise extinct) genus '' Australopithecus'' that encompasses the extant species ''Homo sapiens'' ( modern humans), plus several extinct species classified as either ancestral to or closely rela ...
''
Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...
,
1758
Events
January–March
* January 1 – Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) publishes in Stockholm the first volume (''Animalia'') of the 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', the starting point of modern zoologi ...
Homo rudolfensis
''Homo rudolfensis'' is an extinct species of archaic human from the Early Pleistocene of East Africa about 2 million years ago (mya). Because ''H. rudolfensis'' coexisted with several other hominins, it is debated what specimens can be confi ...
'' Alexeev, 1986
****** ''
Homo habilis
''Homo habilis'' ("handy man") is an extinct species of archaic human from the Early Pleistocene of East and South Africa about 2.31 million years ago to 1.65 million years ago (mya). Upon species description in 1964, ''H. habilis'' was highly ...
'' Leakey ''et al.'', 1964
****** ''
Homo luzonensis
''Homo luzonensis'', also locally called "Ubag" after a mythical caveman, is an extinct, possibly pygmy peoples, pygmy, species of archaic human from the Late Pleistocene of Luzon, the Philippines. Their remains, teeth and phalanges, are known on ...
'' Détroit ''et al.'', 2019
****** ''
Homo erectus
''Homo erectus'' (; meaning "upright man") is an extinct species of archaic human from the Pleistocene, with its earliest occurrence about 2 million years ago. Several human species, such as '' H. heidelbergensis'' and '' H. antecessor ...
'' Dubois, 1892
****** ''
Homo floresiensis
''Homo floresiensis'' also known as "Flores Man"; nicknamed "Hobbit") is an extinct species of small archaic human that inhabited the island of Flores, Indonesia, until the arrival of modern humans about 50,000 years ago.
The remains of an in ...
'' P. Brown ''et al.'', 2004
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Homo ergaster
''Homo ergaster'' is an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Africa in the Early Pleistocene. Whether ''H. ergaster'' constitutes a species of its own or should be subsumed into '' H. erectus'' is an ongoing and unresol ...
'' Groves & Mazak, 1975
****** '' Homo antecessor'' Bermúdez de Castro ''et al.'', 1997
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Homo heidelbergensis
''Homo heidelbergensis'' (also ''H. sapiens heidelbergensis''), sometimes called Heidelbergs, is an extinct species or subspecies of archaic human which existed during the Middle Pleistocene. It was subsumed as a subspecies of '' H. erectus'' i ...
'' Schoetensack, 1908
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Homo cepranensis
Ceprano Man, Argil, and Ceprano Calvarium, refers to a Middle Pleistocene archaic human fossil, a single skull cap ( calvaria), accidentally unearthed in a highway construction project in 1994 near Ceprano in the province of Frosinone, Italy. Alt ...
'' Mallegni ''et al.'', 2003
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Homo neanderthalensis
Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While the ...
'' King, 1864
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Homo rhodesiensis
''Homo rhodesiensis'' is the species name proposed by Arthur Smith Woodward (1921) to classify Kabwe 1 (the "Kabwe skull" or "Broken Hill skull", also "Rhodesian Man"), a Middle Stone Age fossil recovered from a cave at Broken Hill, or Kabwe, No ...
'' Woodward, 1921
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Homo naledi
'' Homo naledi'' is an extinct species of archaic human discovered in 2013 in the Rising Star Cave, Cradle of Humankind, South Africa dating to the Middle Pleistocene 335,000–236,000 years ago. The initial discovery comprises 1,550 specimens ...
'' Berger et al., 2015
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Kenyanthropus
''Kenyanthropus'' is a hominin genus identified from the Lomekwi site by Lake Turkana, Kenya, dated to 3.3 to 3.2 million years ago during the Middle Pliocene. It contains one species, ''K. platyops'', but may also include the 2 million year ...
'' Leakey ''et al.'', 2001
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Kenyanthropus platyops
''Kenyanthropus'' is a hominin genus identified from the Lomekwi site by Lake Turkana, Kenya, dated to 3.3 to 3.2 million years ago during the Middle Pliocene. It contains one species, ''K. platyops'', but may also include the 2 million year o ...
List of fossil primates of South America
Various fossil primates have been found in South America and adjacent regions such as Panama and the Caribbean.Tejedor et al., 2013, p.22 Presently, 78 species of New World monkeys have been registered in South America.Rosenberger & Hartwig, 2001, ...
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List of fossil sites
This list of fossil sites is a worldwide list of localities known well for the presence of fossils. Some entries in this list are notable for a single, unique find, while others are notable for the large number of fossils found there. Many of t ...
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List of human evolution fossils
The following tables give an overview of notable finds of hominin fossils and remains relating to human evolution, beginning with the formation of the tribe Hominini (the divergence of the human and chimpanzee lineages) in the late Miocene, roug ...