Homininae Species Cluster

A Homininae Species Cluster is a Hominidae species cluster whose ancestors are all descended from a species that lived around 8 to 10 million years ago (MYA).

Context:
- It can (typically) refer to the subfamily that includes both humans and African apes like gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos.
- It can (often) divide into two tribes: Hominini (humans and their ancestors) and Gorillini (gorillas).
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- It can describe a group that evolved after the split from orangutans, sharing a common ancestor with chimpanzees and bonobos.
- It can cover the biological classification of both living and extinct species that arose from the divergence of the Pan (chimpanzees) and Homo lineages.
- It can have its most notable member in modern Homo sapiens sapiens, the only extant human species.
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Example(s):
- Hominini which contains Homo erectus and Homo habilis ... modern humans and extinct human species.
- Gorillini which contains gorillas.
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Counter-Example(s):
- Ponginae, which includes orangutans, is not part of Homininae, as it diverged from the lineage leading to humans and African apes much earlier.
See: Hominini, Leonard Carmichael, John Edward Gray, Homo Sapiens, Dryopithecini, Gorillini, Hominidae, Extant Taxon, Homo, Human, Hominina, Genus.

References

(Wikipedia, 2023) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homininae Retrieved:2023-6-19.
- 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 numerous extinct species; the subtribe Hominina, comprising at least two extinct genera; and the subtribe Panina, represented only by the genus Pan, which includes chimpanzees and bonobos)―and 2) the tribe Gorillini (gorillas). Alternatively, the genus Pan is sometimes considered to belong to its own third tribe, Panini. Homininae comprises all hominids that arose after orangutans (subfamily Ponginae) split from the line of great apes. The Homininae cladogram has three main branches, which lead to gorillas (through the tribe Gorillini), and to humans and chimpanzees via the tribe Hominini and subtribes Hominina and Panina (see the evolutionary tree below). There are two living species of Panina (chimpanzees and bonobos) and two living species of gorillas, but only one extant human species. Traces of extinct Homo species, including Homo floresiensis have been found with dates as recent as 40,000 years ago. Organisms in this subfamily are described as hominine or hominines (not to be confused with the terms hominins or hominini).