If not, are there a whole tree of missing links that go up to homo sapiens?
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There is a long line of ancestor species from which humans evolved. There may still be missing links within this lineage that we haven't found yet, but there are now dozens of ancestors species that we know of.
The genus of our ancestors goes like this: the species Ardipithecus ramidus is thought to be the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees. The other ape species split off long before that, but we believe that both modern chimps and modern humans evolved from different populations of the species Ardipithecus ramidus which got separated somehow and took different evolutionary directions. The famous fossil of Ardipithecus ramidus is affectionately known as "Ardi," and she's been making headlines lately as people take an interest in our evolutionary past.
The genus Ardipithecus eventually gave rise to the genus Australopithecus; there are actually many Australopithecines, such as Australopithecus afarensis, which is the species that the famous fossil "Lucy" belongs to.
Eventually, the Australopithecines gave rise to the genus Homo, which is of course our genus. As with the Australopithecines, there are actually many different species within Homo--Homo ergaster, Homo erectus, and eventually ourselves, Homo sapiens.
So yes, we believe that Homo sapiens evolved from a long line of ancestors, including Ardipithecus ramidus, the Australopithecines, and various members of the genus Homo. Interestingly, other "human" species evolved from the genus Homo, such as the Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis), but they went extinct, probably as a result of a combination of climate change and competition from Homo sapiens. Scientists are a bit divided as to how many other "human" species have lived over time.
Hope this helps!
The genus of our ancestors goes like this: the species Ardipithecus ramidus is thought to be the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees. The other ape species split off long before that, but we believe that both modern chimps and modern humans evolved from different populations of the species Ardipithecus ramidus which got separated somehow and took different evolutionary directions. The famous fossil of Ardipithecus ramidus is affectionately known as "Ardi," and she's been making headlines lately as people take an interest in our evolutionary past.
The genus Ardipithecus eventually gave rise to the genus Australopithecus; there are actually many Australopithecines, such as Australopithecus afarensis, which is the species that the famous fossil "Lucy" belongs to.
Eventually, the Australopithecines gave rise to the genus Homo, which is of course our genus. As with the Australopithecines, there are actually many different species within Homo--Homo ergaster, Homo erectus, and eventually ourselves, Homo sapiens.
So yes, we believe that Homo sapiens evolved from a long line of ancestors, including Ardipithecus ramidus, the Australopithecines, and various members of the genus Homo. Interestingly, other "human" species evolved from the genus Homo, such as the Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis), but they went extinct, probably as a result of a combination of climate change and competition from Homo sapiens. Scientists are a bit divided as to how many other "human" species have lived over time.
Hope this helps!
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I think there is some controversy whether A. Afarensis was in our ancestry. I think the general concensus is that Australopithecus was. As for H. erectus, it is a creature with a lot of variation and a long time period. I think we probably have some ancestry to the earlier versions but not the later ones. Some lived to as recently as 30 thousand years ago and these clearly were not in our ancestry.