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Homo (from Latin homō 'man') is the genus that emerged in the genus Australopithecus that encompasses Homo sapiens, plus several extinct species, most notably Homo erectus and Homo neanderthalensis. The genus emerged with the appearance of Homo habilis just over 2 million years ago. Homo, together with the genus Paranthropus, is probably sister to Australopithecus africanus, which itself had previously split from the lineage of Pan, the chimpanzees.

Homo erectus appeared about 2 million years ago and, in several early migrations, spread throughout Africa (where it is dubbed Homo ergaster) and Eurasia. It was likely that the first human species lived in a hunter-gatherer society and was able to control fire. Homo erectus persisted for more than a million years and gradually diverged into new species by around 500,000 years ago.[1]

Homo erectus is an extinct species of human with the earliest fossils originating from about 2 million years ago. Several human species, such as Homo heidelbergensis and Homo antecessor, with the former generally considered to have been the ancestor to Neanderthals, Denisovans, and modern humans, appear to have evolved from Homo erectus. Homo erectus specimens are among the first recognizable members of the genus Homo. They  were the first human ancestor to spread throughout Europe and Asia, with a continental range extending from the Iberian Peninsula to islands in South East Asia. Homo erectus may also be ancestral to Homo floresiensis and possibly to Homo luzonensis. The last known population of H. erectus is the subspecies soloensis from Java, around 117,000–108,000 years ago.[1]

Australopithecus (from Latin australis 'southern', and Ancient Greek pithekos 'ape') was a genus of early hominins that existed in Africa during the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene. It is widely accepted that the genus Homo (which includes modern humans) emerged within Australopithecus, as sister to Australopithecus sediba. Also the genera Paranthropus and Kenyanthropus emerged within Australopithecus. Australopithecus is a member of the subtribe Australopithecina, which sometimes also includes Ardipithecus, though the term "australopithecine" is sometimes used to refer only to members of Australopithecus. Species include A. garhi, A. africanus, A. sediba, A. afarensis, A. anamensis, A. bahrelghazali and A. deyiremeda. Debate exists as to whether some Australopithecus species should be reclassified into new genera, or if Paranthropus and Kenyanthropus are synonymous with Australopithecus, in part because of the taxonomic inconsistency.

The earliest known member of the genus, A. anamensis, existed in eastern Africa around 4.2 million years ago. Australopithecus fossils become more widely dispersed throughout eastern and southern Africa, before eventually becoming pseudo-extinct 1.9 million years ago (or 1.2 to 0.6 million years ago if Paranthropus is included).[1]

Australopithecus afarensis is an extinct species of australopithecine which lived from about 3.9–2.9 million years ago (mya) in the Pliocene of East Africa. The first fossils were discovered in the 1930s, but major fossil finds would not take place until the 1970s. From 1972 to 1977, the International Afar Research Expedition—led by anthropologists Maurice Taieb, Donald Johanson, and Yves Coppens—unearthed several hundreds of hominin specimens in Hadar, Ethiopia, the most significant being the exceedingly well-preserved skeleton AL 288-1 ("Lucy") and the site AL 333 ("the First Family"). Beginning in 1974, Mary Leakey led an expedition into Laetoli, Tanzania, and notably recovered fossil trackways. In 1978, the species was first described, but this was followed by arguments for splitting the wealth of specimens into different species given the wide range of variation which had been attributed to sexual dimorphism (normal differences between males and females). A. afarensis probably descended from A. anamensis and is hypothesized to have given rise to Homo, though the latter is debated.[1]