Editing Homininae (section)

==History of discoveries and classification==
{{See also|List of human evolution fossils}}
[[File:Homininae.svg|left|frame|[[Evolutionary tree]] of the superfamily [[Hominoidea]], emphasizing the subfamily Homininae: after an initial separation from the main line (some 18 million years ago) of [[Hylobatidae]] (current [[gibbon]]s), the line of subfamily [[Ponginae]] broke away—leading to the current orangutan; and later the Homininae split into the tribe [[Hominini]] (with subtribes Hominina and Panina), and the tribe [[Gorillini]].]]
Until 1970, the family (and term) Hominidae meant humans only; the non-human [[great ape]]s were assigned to the then-family [[Pongidae]].<ref name=Goodman>{{cite book | vauthors = Goodman M |author-link=Morris Goodman (scientist) |chapter = Man’s place in the phylogeny of the primates as reflected in serum proteins |pages = 204–234 | veditors = Washburn SL |title=Classification and Human Evolution |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8NHbEwLkYmQC&pg=PA204 |publisher=Transaction Publishers |isbn=978-0-202-36487-2 |year=1964}}</ref> Later discoveries led to revised classifications, with the great [[ape]]s then united with humans (now in subfamily Homininae)<ref name="GBIF">{{GBIF |title=Homininae Gray, 1825 |id=113406995 |access-date=2024-08-02}}</ref> as members of family Hominidae<ref name=Goodman1>{{cite journal | journal = Annual Review of Anthropology | volume = 3 | pages = 203–228 | year = 1974 | doi = 10.1146/annurev.an.03.100174.001223 | title = Biochemical Evidence on Hominid Phylogeny | vauthors = Goodman M}}</ref> 
By 1990, it was recognized that [[gorilla]]s and [[chimpanzee]]s are more closely related to [[human]]s than they are to [[orangutan]]s, leading to their (gorillas' and chimpanzees') placement in subfamily Homininae as well.<ref name=Goodman2>{{cite journal | vauthors = Goodman M, Tagle DA, Fitch DH, Bailey W, Czelusniak J, Koop BF, Benson P, Slightom JL | title = Primate evolution at the DNA level and a classification of hominoids | journal = Journal of Molecular Evolution | volume = 30 | issue = 3 | pages = 260–6 | date = March 1990 | pmid = 2109087 | doi = 10.1007/BF02099995| bibcode = 1990JMolE..30..260G | s2cid = 2112935 }}</ref>

The subfamily Homininae can be further subdivided into three branches, the tribe [[Gorillini]] (gorillas), the tribe [[Hominini]] with subtribes [[Pan (genus)|Panina]] (chimpanzees/bonobos) and [[Hominina]] (humans and their extinct relatives), and the extinct tribe [[Dryopithecini]]. The [[Late Miocene]] fossil ''[[Nakalipithecus nakayamai]]'', described in 2007, is a [[basal (evolution)|basal]] member of this [[clade]], as is, perhaps, its contemporary ''[[Ouranopithecus]]''; that is, they are not assignable to any of the three extant branches. Their existence suggests that the Homininae tribes diverged not earlier than about 8 million years ago (see [[Human evolutionary genetics]]).

Today, chimpanzees and gorillas live in [[tropical forest]]s with acid soils that rarely preserve fossils. Although no fossil gorillas have been reported, four chimpanzee teeth about 500,000 years old have been discovered in the East-African rift valley ([[Kapthurin]] Formation, Kenya), where many fossils from the human lineage (hominins)<ref group="Note" name="CommonNames" /> have been found.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = McBrearty S, Jablonski NG | title = First fossil chimpanzee | journal = Nature | volume = 437 | issue = 7055 | pages = 105–8 | date = September 2005 | pmid = 16136135 | doi = 10.1038/nature04008| bibcode = 2005Natur.437..105M | s2cid = 4423286 }}</ref> This shows that some chimpanzees lived close to ''Homo'' (''[[H. erectus]]'' or ''[[H. rhodesiensis]]'') at the time; the same is likely true for gorillas.<ref name="GBIF" />