Hominidae

The Hominidae, whose members are known as the great apes, are a taxonomic family of primates that includes eight extant species in four genera: Pongo ; Gorilla ; Pan ; and Homo, of which only modern humans remain.

Hominidae

Jordan Engel · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
apePBDB
Sits inside
HominoideaPBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 619 occurrencesMiocene — about 69 of 619 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 100 of 619 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 409 of 619 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 1 occurrence16–16 Mya — about 4 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 7 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 7 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 5 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 3 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 4 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 4 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 4 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 4 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 4 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 4 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 4 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 4 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 4 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 11 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 13 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 38 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 89 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 150 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 96 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 155 occurrences15.98 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

619 occurrences of Hominidae on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

619 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

56 formations

Koobi Fora — 3.90°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 3.98°N, 36.32°EKoobi Fora — 3.86°N, 36.26°EKoobi Fora — 4.07°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 3.87°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 4.31°N, 36.28°EKoobi Fora — 4.23°N, 36.43°EKoobi Fora — 3.95°N, 36.42°EKoobi Fora — 4.31°N, 36.22°EKoobi Fora — 4.09°N, 36.31°EKoobi Fora — 3.59°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 4.24°N, 36.26°EKoobi Fora — 3.77°N, 36.39°EShungura — 5.09°N, 36.02°EShungura — 5.15°N, 36.03°EShungura — 5.04°N, 36.02°EShungura — 5.09°N, 36.06°EHadar — 11.17°N, 40.58°EHadar — 11.12°N, 40.59°EHadar — 11.07°N, 40.77°EHadar — 11.00°N, 40.50°EOlduvai — 2.97°S, 35.32°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 32.33°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 35.37°EMaboko — 0.15°S, 34.60°EMaboko — 0.17°N, 34.62°EMaboko — 0.15°N, 34.62°EVogel River Series — 3.22°S, 35.22°EVogel River Series — 3.01°S, 35.20°EVogel River Series — 3.26°S, 35.20°EVogel River Series — 3.13°S, 35.13°ESwartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°ENachukui — 3.88°N, 35.71°ENachukui — 4.25°N, 35.79°ENachukui — 3.85°N, 35.76°ENachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°ENachukui — 3.08°N, 35.83°EChemeron — 0.67°N, 35.83°EChemoigut — 0.65°N, 36.20°EKapthurin — 0.50°N, 36.00°EKanapoi — 2.37°N, 36.08°EKanapoi — 2.32°N, 36.07°ESagantole — 10.50°N, 40.58°ESagantole — 10.52°N, 40.47°ENgorora — 0.90°N, 35.85°ESterkfontein — 26.02°S, 27.73°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.45°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.75°EMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°EUnterer Travertin — 50.95°N, 11.38°EUnterer Travertin — 50.98°N, 11.31°EChinji — 32.82°N, 75.37°EIrrawaddy — 20.12°N, 95.13°EIrrawaddy — 19.85°N, 95.00°EDhok Pathan — 33.00°N, 72.00°EDhok Pathan — 33.30°N, 72.70°EGabal Silsila — 24.43°N, 32.95°EGabal Silsila — 24.77°N, 32.95°EWehaietu — 10.63°N, 40.54°ENawata and Nachukui — 2.88°N, 36.07°E

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The named rock units Hominidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 32 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 219 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Hominidae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Hominidae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

920 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 478 sites for Hominidae, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

268 references

Each of the 619 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 256 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Hominidae

Credit
Jordan Engel
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itHominoidea through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1825