Wood B, Collard M
Department of Anthropology, George Washington University, 2110 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20052, USA.
Science. 1999 Apr 2;284(5411):65-71. doi: 10.1126/science.284.5411.65.
A general problem in biology is how to incorporate information about evolutionary history and adaptation into taxonomy. The problem is exemplified in attempts to define our own genus, Homo. Here conventional criteria for allocating fossil species to Homo are reviewed and are found to be either inappropriate or inoperable. We present a revised definition, based on verifiable criteria, for Homo and conclude that two species, Homo habilis and Homo rudolfensis, do not belong in the genus. The earliest taxon to satisfy the criteria is Homo ergaster, or early African Homo erectus, which currently appears in the fossil record at about 1.9 million years ago.
生物学中的一个普遍问题是如何将有关进化历史和适应性的信息纳入分类学。这个问题在试图定义我们自己的属——人属（Homo）时得到了体现。在这里，我们回顾了将化石物种归入人属的传统标准，发现这些标准要么不合适，要么无法实施。我们基于可验证的标准提出了一个修订后的人属定义，并得出结论：能人（Homo habilis）和鲁道夫人（Homo rudolfensis）这两个物种不属于人属。最早符合这些标准的分类单元是匠人（Homo ergaster），即早期非洲直立人（Homo erectus），目前在化石记录中出现的时间约为190万年前。
