Hominin, any member of the zoological "tribe" Hominini (family Hominidae, order Primates), of which only one species exists today—Homo sapiens or human beings. The term is used most often to refer to extinct members of the human lineage, some of which are now quite well known from fossil remains H. As represented by the phylogeny tree, its stem species is the so-called 'common hominin ancestor,' and its only extant member is Homo sapiens. As the phylogenetic tree diagram suggests, the major components of such trees are leaves. The leaves of a tree can be species, populations, individuals, or even genes. If the tips represent a formally named group, they are called taxa (singular: taxon). A 'taxon' is a group of organisms at any hierarchical rank, such as a family, genus, or species.
