Homo is the
genus that comprises the species
Homo sapiens, which includes
modern humans, as well as several extinct species classified as
ancestral to or closely related to modern humans—as for examples
Homo habilis and
Homo neanderthalensis. The genus is about 2.8 million years old; it first appeared as its earliest species
Homo habilis, which emerged from the genus
Australopithecus, which itself had previously split from the lineage of
Pan, the chimpanzees.