Homo genus

Overview

Spawning from the genus Australopithecus , Homo genus (Homo is the Latin word for ‘man’) contains various primate species, most notably the Homo habilis (present humans), Homo erectus, and Homo neanderthalensis. With the introduction of Homo habilis, scientists created a separate genus from the genus Australopithecus, and is currently considered to be paired with the genus Paranthropus. At first, this classification is currently contested, since many scientists claimed that the fossils of Homo habilis were simply Australopithecus fossils, but that counter-claim has been disbanded. 

Specifically, I will be defining what causes something to be classified as Homo vs. something else. “Homo is the genus that includes modern humans and their close relatives. The genus is estimated to be between 1.5 and 2.5 million years old.” (ScienceDaily, 2019) The genus homo is different from genus Australopithecus.  According to MerriamWebster, "Australopithecus is a  genus of extinct early hominids of southern and eastern Africa comprising the Australopithecus when considered to includes both the gracile and robust forms." (Webster, 2019)

Evolutionary tree picture: http://www.evolutionevidence.org/evidence/progressions/

References

Wood, B. (1992). Origin and evolution of the genus homo. Nature, 355(6363), 783-790. Digital Object Identifier System10.1038/355783a0