hominin and hominid

[<:eQuiLiBriUm:>]

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i need help with the terms hominin and hominid...

i have being reading too many pre -2002 books they don't have hominin
so it has majorly confused me

some questions is

what does hominid describe now?...

and is the term hominin used now instead of hominid (to describe humans and archiac humans)?

also the dot point -- discuss the use of the terms hominin and hominid in terms of the arbitrary nature of classification systems

what does the term arbitrary mean in this context

[bluesky100]

This might help:
"what does hominid describe now?..."

Hominids (using the more traditional definition of the term- see 9.8.1)are animals that walk upright on two feet (bipedal) and have characteristics that are more human than ape-like. Today there is only one living hominid, Homo sapiens. In the past however, there were several species of hominids often living in close proximity to each other.

For the dot point you mentioned, this info is from the HSC bio site - may help you understand the question better:

Classification systems are designed to help sort out the millions of living organisms. They are designed for convenience and this leads to the arbitrary or subjective nature of classification systems. The use of the groups hominid and hominin is undergoing change, as new evidence becomes available from biochemical and genetic sources. Hominids used to be a group containing modern humans (Homo sapiens) and their close relatives such as other members of the Homo genus (eg. Homo neanderthalensis and Homo erectus) and members of the genera Paranthropus and Australopithecus. Recent evidence has shown that African apes including bonobos, chimpanzees and gorillas are genetically very similar to Homo sapiens and should be grouped with them as Hominids. To distinguish the group of animals that were once in the group hominids, the tribe grouping of hominin is now used to distinguish the African apes from the genera Homo, Paranthropus and Australopithecus.