Table 5.
(A) Splitting and (B) lumping hominin taxonomies and skeletal representation* within the taxa in the more speciose taxonomic scheme
| (A) Splitting taxonomy | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Informal group | Taxa | Age (Ma) | Type specimen | Crania | Dentition | Axial | Upper limb | Lower Limb |
| Possible and probable primitive hominins | S. tchadensis | 7.0–6.0 | TM 266-01-060-1 | X | X | |||
| Orronin tugenensis | 6.0 | BAR 1000’00 | X | X | X | |||
| Ar. ramidus s. s.† | 5.7–4.5 | ARA-VP-6/1 | X | X | X | ff | ||
| Archaic hominins | Australopithecus anamensis | 4.2–3.9 | KNM-KP 29281 | ff | X | X | X | |
| Australopithecus afarensis s. s. | 4.0–3.0 | LH4 | X | X | X | X | X | |
| Kenyanthropus platyops | 3.5–3.3 | KNM-WT 40000 | X | X | ||||
| Australopithecus bahrelghazali | 3.5–3.0 | KT 12/H1 | X | |||||
| Au. africanus | 3.0–2.4 | Taung 1 | X | X | ff | X | X | |
| Megadont archaic hominins | Au. garhi | 2.5 | BOU-VP-12/130 | X | X | ? | ? | |
| P. aethiopicus | 2.5–2.3 | Omo 18.18 | X | X | ||||
| P. boisei s. s. | 2.3–1.3 | OH 5 | X | X | ? | ? | ||
| P. robustus | 2.0–1.5 | TM1517 | X | X | X | X | ||
| Transitional hominins | H. habilis s. s. | 2.4–1.6 | OH 7 | X | X | X | X | X |
| H. rudolfensis | 2.4–1.6 | KNM-ER 1470 | X | X | ? | |||
| Pre-modern Homo | H. ergaster | 1.9–1.5 | KNM-ER 992 | X | X | X | X | X |
| H. erectus s. s. | 1.8–0.2 | Trinil 2 | X | X | X | X | ||
| H. floresiensis‡ | 0.074–0.012 | LB1 | X | X | ff | X | X | |
| H. antecessor | 0.7–0.5 | ATD6-5 | X | X | ||||
| H. heidelbergensis | 0.6–0.1 | Mauer 1 | X | X | ff | X | ||
| H. neanderthalensis | 0.2–0.03 | Neanderthal 1 | X | X | X | X | X | |
| Anatomically modern humans | H. sapiens s. s. | 0.19-present | None designated | X | X | X | X | X |
| (B) Lumping taxonomy | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Informal group | Taxa | Age (Ma) | Taxa subsumed from the splitting taxonomy |
| Possible and probable primitive hominins | Ar. ramidus s. l. | 7.0–4.5 | S. tchadensis, O. tugenensis, Ar. ramidus s. s.† |
| Archaic hominins | Au. afarensis s. l. | 4.2–3.0 | Au. anamensis, Au. afarensis s. s., Au. bahrelghazali, K. platyops |
| Au. africanus | 3.0–2.4 | Au. africanus | |
| Megadont archaic hominins | P. boisei s. l. | 2.5–1.3 | Au. garhi, P. aethiopicus, P. boisei s. s. |
| P. robustus | 2.0–1.5 | P. robustus | |
| Transitional hominins | H. habilis s. l. | 2.4–1.6 | H. habilis s. s., H. rudolfensis |
| Pre-modern Homo | H. erectus s. l. | 1.9–0.018 | H. erectus s. s., H. ergaster, H. floresiensis |
| Anatomically-modern humans | H. sapiens s. l. | 0.7-present | H. antecessor, H. heidelbergensis, H. neanderthalensis, H. sapiens s. s. |
*
Skeletal representation key: X = present, ff = fragmentary specimens, ? = taxanomic affiliation of fossil specimen(s) uncertain.
†
Recently, some specimens included in the Ar. ramidus s. s. have been raised to a separate species, Ar. kadabba (Haile-Selassie et al. (2004); however, this taxonomic distinction has not been incorporated into our analyses.
‡
Given the recent and limited publication of this taxon and its current interpretation as an isolated endemic dwarf descendent of H. erectus s. s., H. floresiensis is not included in our comparisons or analyses of life history patterns in fossil hominins.