From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Homininae is a subfamily of Hominidae, including Homo sapiens and some extinct relatives, but excluding all living relatives such as the chimpanzee.
Originally the term Hominidae was itself used in this sense, human or humanoid as opposed to ape. But it is now recognized that humans and the great apes are so close that they belong in the same family. In the Linnaean taxonomy, Hominidae has date priority over Pongidae, the great ape family.
So the Homininae are those hominids, such as Australopithecus, who arose after the split from the other (still living) apes.
