Fig. 2.

Options for an 8–5 Ma African higher primate taxon that is more closely related to Homo and Pan than to Gorilla. Scheme A assumes no homoplasy and the only options within it for such a taxon is that it is the last common ancestor (LCA) of modern humans and chimps/bonobos, a primitive hominin, or a primitive panin. Scheme B takes into account the probability of homoplasy, and in addition to the above options such a taxon could be a member of an extinct clade that is the sister taxon of the LCA of modern humans and chimps/bonobos, or a hitherto unkown clade that is the sister taxon of the earliest hominins or panins.