The term
australopithecines refers generally to all species in the related
genera of
Australopithecus and
Paranthropus, and it is typically intended to include members of
Kenyanthropus,
Ardipithecus, and
Praeanthropus. Further, all these related species are now collectively classified by some as a subtribe,
Australopithecina, of the
Hominini tribe. They are the extinct, close relatives of
humans and, with the extant genus
Homo, comprise the human
clade. Members of the human clade, that is, the Hominini after the split from the chimpanzees, are now called
hominins (
see Hominidae; terms "hominids" and hominins).
