Homo

''Genus Homo'' (novel)}}

| image = Members_of_Genus_Homo.png | image_caption = Notable members of ''Homo''.
Clockwise from top left: An approximate reconstruction of a Neanderthal (''Homo neanderthalensis'') skeleton, a modern human (''Homo sapiens'') female with a child in India, a reconstructed ''Homo habilis'' skull, and a replica skull of Peking Man (subspecies of ''Homo erectus''). | taxon = Homo | authority = Linnaeus, 1758 | type_species = ''Homo sapiens'' | type_species_authority = Linnaeus, 1758 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = *''Homo sapiens'' * ''Homo antecessor'' * ''Homo erectus'' * ''Homo ergaster'' * ''Homo floresiensis'' * ''Homo habilis'' * ''Homo heidelbergensis'' * ''Homo longi'' * ''Homo luzonensis'' * ''Homo naledi'' * ''Homo neanderthalensis'' * ''Homo rhodesiensis'' * ''Homo rudolfensis'' ''For other species or subspecies suggested, see below.'' | synonyms = }}

''Homo'' () is a genus of great ape that emerged from the genus ''Australopithecus'' and encompasses the extant species ''Homo sapiens'' (modern humans) and a number of extinct species (collectively called archaic humans) classified as either ancestral or closely related to modern humans. These include ''Homo erectus'' and ''Homo neanderthalensis''. The oldest member of the genus is ''Homo habilis'', with records of just over 2 million years ago. Suggestions for pushing back the age to 2.8 Mya were made in 2015 based on the discovery of a jawbone.|name=fn1}} ''Homo'', together with the genus ''Paranthropus'', is probably most closely related to the species ''Australopithecus africanus'' within ''Australopithecus''.'''' The closest living relatives of ''Homo'' are of the genus ''Pan'' (which includes chimpanzees and bonobos), with the ancestors of ''Pan'' and ''Homo'' estimated to have diverged around 5.7-11 million years ago during the Late Miocene.

''Homo erectus'' appeared about 2 million years ago and spread throughout Africa (where it is called ''Homo ergaster'') and Eurasia in several migrations. Being an adaptive and successful species, it persisted for more than a million years and gradually diverged into new species by around 500,000 years ago..}}

Anatomically modern humans (''Homo sapiens'') emerged close to 300,000 to 200,000 years ago, in Africa, and ''H. neanderthalensis'' emerged around the same time in Europe and Western Asia. ''H. sapiens'' dispersed from Africa in several waves, from possibly as early as 250,000 years ago, and certainly by 130,000 years ago, with the so-called Southern Dispersal beginning about 70–50,000 years ago leading to the lasting colonisation of Eurasia and Oceania by 50,000 years ago. ''H. sapiens'' met and interbred with archaic humans in Africa and in Eurasia. Separate archaic (non-''sapiens'') human species including Neanderthals are thought to have survived until around 40,000 years ago. Provided by Wikipedia