Hominidae
Hominidae (order Primates, suborder Anthropoidea, superfamily Hominoidea) The mammalian family that includes humans and immediately ancestral forms now extinct. Its members are distinguished from the apes (Pongidae) (a) by the possession of a much larger brain, in which the frontal and occipital lobes are especially well developed, allowing more complex behaviour including communication by speech; (b) by a fully erect posture facilitated by the positioning of the foramen magnum beneath the skull so that the head is held upright; (c) by a bipedal gait; and (d) by the slow rate of post-natal growth and development, which favours complex social organization and the emergence of distinct cultures. The family includes the genera Paranthropus, Australopithecus (but see AUSTRALOPITHECINES), and Homo. Whether a possible ancestral genus Ramapithecus should also be included in this family, or with the apes, is a matter for debate.
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Hominidae
