Do my students need to know and use the term hominin as well as hominid?
Response: When studying hominid evolution (eighth bullet point page 28 study design) students will encounter the term hominin and when answering relevant questions on Examination 2 will be expected to be familiar with and use both terms correctly as outlined below. The taxonomic family Hominidae refers to the great apes (chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans) and includes humans. Hominin refers to modern and extinct humans and their erect-walking ancestors including, for example, Australopithecus , Kenyanthropus and Homo genera. Under some older taxonomic classifications, hominin is used instead of hominid to refer to humans and humanlike ancestors and to describe the early humans now called Hominins. When the classification system changed to include apes in the human lineage (Hominidae), the term Hominid came to include apes and humans. The term Hominin is used today, when talking about the human lineage and its ancestors. These changes in taxonomy have arisen from fossil, biochemical
