Chapter 9: Hominid Evolution

Hierarchical Classification

Domain ● Broadest level of classification

○ Eukarya
○ Bacteria
○ Archaea

Kingdom ● In Eukarya:
○ Animalia
○ Plantae
○ Fungi
○ Protista

Phylum ● 35 phyla in Animalia

○ Chordates (organisms that have a spinal column)

Class ● Reptilia
● Amphibia
● Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fish)
● Agnantha (bony fish)
● Mammalia

Order ● Mammals can be grouped into:

○ Placental
○ Marsupial
○ Monotreme mammals

Family ● Describes the general type of organism

Genus ● All the organisms contained often have closely linked

phylogenies

Species ● Most specific group

Scientific Names
● Taxonomy: classification of organisms
● Helps to identify different organism and help communication about them
● Binomial name: Genus Species
● Written in Italics/ underlined (handwritten)
● Species is always all lower case
● Can be Shortened by initialising the genus name
Example:

Homo sapiens
Genus=Homo, Species= sapiens
Shortened form: H.sapiens
Primates
● Form an order in class Mammalia

Characteristic of Mammals
● Produce milk to feed their offspring
● Covered in hair/fur
● Have a layer of insulting fat under the skin
● Have four limbs
● Use lungs to breathe
● Endothermic( generate own heat)
● Have specialised teeth which depends on their diet

Primate adaptations

● Common ancestor: Ancestral primate

1) Prosimians
● Early types of monkey
● Smaller in size compared to the others
● E.g Lemurs, Lorises, Tarsiers

2) New World Monkeys

● Found in South America
● Live in trees (Arboreal)
● Have Prehensile Tail (Grasps like a hand)

3) Old world Monkeys

● Found in Africa
● Live in grounds (Terrestrial)
 ● Don't have prehensile tail

The continental drift separates the South American and African continents, therefore
two groups of monkey undergo separate adaptive radiation

4) Lesser Apes
● Don’t have tails
● E.g gibbons

5) Greater Apes
● Don’t have tails
● E.g Orang Utan, gorillas, chimpanzees, human

All non-human Apes are found in Africa and diverged from an old World monkey
ancestral species.

Hominid vs Hominin
● Hominin:a tribe/subgroup, which differentiates human-like species from other
great apes
● Hominids: Orang Utan, Chimpanzee etc.

Hominin characters and adaptations

● Palaeoanthropology: study of human evolution
Characteristics:
1. Larger brain compared to body size
2. Bipedal locomotion
● Ability to walk upright on the two back legs
● Only hominins use bipedalism as their primary mode of locomotion

Feature Purposes

Longer legs than arms ● Enable larger and stronger muscles to attach
to support the weight of the body
● Reduce the energy required to walk upright

Reduced bicondylar angle ● Improves balance when standing upright

Big toe which is not ● No advantage for bipedal locomotion

opposable and more in line ● Shorter, forward pointing toes reduce energy
with other toes required for walking

Narrower and deeper pelvic ● Brings centre of gravity over the feet
structure ● Increases size and strength muscles that can
attach to the legs

Increased curve in spine ● Increases flexibility

 ● Cushion the impact of walking on the rest of
the body

More centrally located ● Improves balance by positioning the skull

foramen magnum directly on top of the spine

3. Construction and modification and uses of tools

4. Development of hyoid bone to enable articulate speech

Key Members of Human Phylogeny

Earliest hominin species : Sahelanthropus tchadensis

● Smaller canine teeth
● Relatively flat faces
● Structures indicating some bipedal movement
● The foramen magnum was located further forward than any of other great
apes

Genus: Australopithecus
● Found in eastern and southern Africa
● Characteristics:
○ Relatively smaller brain size
○ Primarily bipedal, but still climb trees
○ Looked more like modern human than other great apes
● Australopithecus afarensis
○ Shorter (1-1.5m)
○ Same brain size as chimpanzees
○ Had facial structure of both apes and humans
○ Adapted for both bipedal movement and regular arboreal movement
● Australopithecus africanus
○ Longer legs than A.afarensis
○ Fully bipedal
○ Comparatively larger brain than A.afarensis (⅓ of human brain)

Genus: Homo
● Homo habilis
Key features:
○ The handy man
○ First evidence of stone tool use
○ Larger brain size
● Homo ergaster
Key features:
○ Better adapted to bipedalism than arboreal living
○ Larger brain size
 ○ Smaller teeth
○ Males and female are more similar in size compared to
Australopithecus
● Homo erectus
Key features:
○ First species migrated out of Africa
○ First evidences of using fire to cook
○ Evidences of social care for the old, young and sick members of family
groups
○ Evidence of higher level of tool sophistication
○ Similar body proportions to Homo sapiens
● Homo neanderthalensis

○ First evidence of burying the dead(cultural evolution)

○ Use of tools and fire
○ Making shelters, clothing and ornaments
○ Smaller size than Homo sapiens, but thicker bones and a prominent
brow ridge
○ Large brain size to body ratio (as large as/ larger than Homo sapiens)

● Homo floriensis
○ Smallest Homo species (1m)
○ Proportionally larger feet and brain
○ Uses stone toll and hunt pygmy elephants
The smaller size of H.floriensis is the result of island dwarfism.
- A form a evolution where island-specific selective pressure (limited space,
food and other resources) drives a decrease in size of large animals over
many generations

Q:For some species (e.g H.floriensis),since they are small in size, the skeleton
that we got might be a child of other species. How do we differentiate them?
A:Based on teeth structure and proportion of bone structure, we are able to
differentiate between adults and children.

Cultural Evolution
Multiregional
● Suggest that species evolved in many different places at the same time
● H.erectus migrated to different parts of Africa and nearby areas
● Each separated population diverged into H.sapiens
○ Differences in humans are results of different selective pressures on
each location
● Evidences:
○ There are similarities between modern humans and extinct hominin
species that lived in the same geographical areas
 ○ Living H.sapiens have little genetic variation
■ Regular gene flow between populations across the world
Out of Africa
● Most commonly supported due to more supporting evidences
● Suggest Homo ergaster diverged into a number of different species (e.g
H.neanderthalensis, H.erectus and H.sapiens)
● These new species spread out across Africa and other parts of the world
● H.sapiens out-competed and replaced other Homo species around the world
● Evidences:
○ Oldest H.sapiens was found in Africa
○ Living H.sapiens have little genetic variation
■ Suggest that only recent divergence from the common ancestor
○ Among Africans, Eurasians and East Asians, Africans has the greatest
genetic diversity
■ Suggest Africans is the source population
■ Gene pool has enough time to develop new genes and alleles

Cultural Evolution
● Particularly prominent in H.sapiens
● Results of our larger brains and well-developed hyoid bone
● E.g development of language, tools, art, religion and agriculture

1. Tools
● First evidences of using tools: by Australopithecus
● Simple tools is then replaced by stone tools
● H.sapiens chipped stone tools to form sharp axes
2. Art and religion
● Ancient ochre paintings and rock carvings

How cultural evolution related to physical evolution

● Development of human larynx & functional adaptation of hyoid bone enable
speech
○ Allow transmission of knowledge and experience verbally
○ Developed writing symbols→ become written forms of language
● Evolution of bipedal locomotion in hominins trigger development of culture
○ Free the hand for other activities, such as tools and weapons
● Little sexual dimorphism
○ Similarity in size between male and female hominins can be associated
with increased pair bonding and small families
○ Results in greater level of parental care as females are responsible for
the care of the young