Development of Human Population Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards identifying key hominin species, historical fossil discoveries, and fundamental evolutionary terms from the lecture.

Human Population Evolution

The process by which our species, Homo sapiens, evolved from earlier hominids and diversified into numerous communities around the world.

Hominids

Members of Family Hominidae, referring to all modern and extinct great apes, which include humans, gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans and their ancestors.

Hominins

All species considered to be in direct lineage to humans, which include the genera Homo, Australopithecus, Paranthropus, and Ardipithecus.

Bipedal Locomotion

The one shared anatomical behavioral complex common to all hominin species.

Sahelanthropus tchadensis

The considered oldest known hominin species dated between 6 and 7 mya, discovered in Chad, South Africa.

Ardipithecus ramidus

A 4.4 million year old hominin species from Ethiopia, known from a nearly complete skeleton as well as numerous other dental and skeletal remains.

Australopithecus africanus

A hominin species whose name means 'Southern ape of Africa', dated between 3 and 2 mya, featuring a rounder cranium and larger brain than Au. afarensis.

Taung Child

The first fossil hominin discovered in South Africa in 1924 by Prof. Raymond Dart, belonging to the species Australopithecus africanus.

Homo habilis

The most ancient member of the genus Homo, meaning 'handy man', referring to this species being the first human-like tool maker.

Homo erectus

A species meaning 'upright man' that emerged 2-1.8 mya, extinct 200 kya, and generally considered to have been the first species to have expanded beyond Africa.

Turkana Boy

A well-preserved skeleton dated around 1.6 million years old, representing the most complete fossil individual of Homo erectus.

Peking Man

Classic examples of Homo erectus from early fossil discoveries in China beginning in the 1920s.

Homo sapiens

The species that all living human beings belong to, which evolved in Africa 300,000 years ago during a time of dramatic climate change.

Anatomically modern Homo sapiens

A term used by scientists to refer to members of our own species who lived during prehistoric times.

Evolution

The change in allele frequencies within a gene pool across generations, or the change in heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations.

Natural Selection

The process where individuals with traits better suited to their environment have higher survival and reproductive success, passing those advantageous traits to the next generation.