Australopithecus, (Latin: “southern ape”) (genus Australopithecus),

group of extinct primates closely related to, if not actually

ancestors of, modern human beings and known from a series
of fossils found at numerous sites in eastern, north-central, and
southern Africa. The various species of Australopithecus lived 4.4
million to 1.4 million years ago (mya), during
the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs (which lasted from 5.3 million
to 11,700 years ago). The genus name, meaning “southern ape,”
refers to the first fossils found, which were discovered in South
Africa. Perhaps the most famous specimen of Australopithecus is
“Lucy,” a remarkably preserved fossilized skeleton from Ethiopia
that has been dated to 3.2 mya

Homo habilis, (Latin: “able man” or “handy

man”) extinct speciesof human, the most ancient representative of
the human genus, Homo. Homo habilis inhabited parts of sub-
Saharan Africa from roughly 2.4 to 1.5 million years ago (mya). In
1959 and 1960 the first fossils were discovered at Olduvai Gorge in
northern Tanzania. This discovery was a turning point in the science
of paleoanthropology because the oldest previously known
human fossils were Asian specimens of Homo erectus. Many
features of H. habilis appear to be intermediate in terms of
evolutionary development between the relatively
primitive Australopithecusand the more-advanced Homo species.

Homo erectus, (Latin: “upright man”) extinct species of

the human genus (Homo), perhaps an ancestor of
modern humans(Homo sapiens). H. erectus most likely originated
in Africa, though Eurasia cannot be ruled out. Regardless of where
it first evolved, the species seems to have dispersed quickly, starting
about 1.9 million years ago (mya) near the middle of
the Pleistocene Epoch, moving through the African tropics, Europe,
South Asia, and Southeast Asia. The brain was smaller and
the teeth larger than in modern humans. H. erectus appears to have
been the first human species to control fire, some 1,000,000 years
ago. The species seems to have flourished until some 200,000 years
ago (200 kya) or perhaps later before giving way to other humans
including Homo sapiens.
Neanderthal, (Homo neanderthalensis, Homo sapiens
neanderthalensis), also spelled Neandertal, member of a group
of archaic humans who emerged at least 200,000 years ago during
the Pleistocene Epoch (about 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago) and
were replaced or assimilated by early modern human populations
(Homo sapiens) between 35,000 and perhaps 24,000 years ago.
Neanderthals inhabited Eurasia from the Atlantic regions of Europe
eastward to Central Asia, from as far north as present-day Belgium
and as far south as the Mediterranean and southwest Asia. The
name Neanderthal (or Neandertal) derives from the Neander
Valley (German Neander Thal or Neander Tal) in Germany, where
the fossils were first found.

Neanderthal, (Homo neanderthalensis, Homo sapiens

neanderthalensis), also spelled Neandertal, member of a group
of archaic humans who emerged at least 200,000 years ago during
the Pleistocene Epoch (about 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago) and
were replaced or assimilated by early modern human populations
(Homo sapiens) between 35,000 and perhaps 24,000 years ago.
Neanderthals inhabited Eurasia from the Atlantic regions of Europe
eastward to Central Asia, from as far north as present-day Belgium
and as far south as the Mediterranean and southwest Asia. The
name Neanderthal (or Neandertal) derives from the Neander
Valley (German Neander Thal or Neander Tal) in Germany, where
the fossils were first found.

Homo sapiens, (Latin: “wise man”) the species to which all modern human
beings belong. Homo sapiens is one of several species grouped into the
genus Homo, but it is the only one that is not extinct. See also human
evolution. The name Homo sapiens was applied in 1758 by the father of
modern biological classification (see taxonomy), Carolus Linnaeus. It had long
been known that human beings physically resemble the primates more closely
than any other known living organisms, but at the time it was a daring act to
classify human beings within the same framework used for the rest of nature.
Linnaeus, concerned exclusively with similarities in bodily structure, faced only
the problem of distinguishing H. sapiens from apes (gorillas, chimpanzees,
orangutans, and gibbons), which differ from humans in numerous bodily as
well as cognitive features. (Charles Darwin’s treatise on evolution, On the
Origin of Species, would come 101 years later.)