Cladistic versus Traditional Classification of Anthropoid primates

    Traditional classification [right] is based on perceptions of groups of similar organisms, as indicated by the brackets at right. The anthropoid ("man-like") Apes are distinguished from Old World Monkeys by the absence of a tail. Among Apes, there is a strong perception that Humans are very distinct and (or) "structurally advanced," and therefore belong in a separate group (family Hominidae) apart from the Great Apes (Chimps, Gorillas, & Orangutans) (subfamily Ponginae). Among the apes, tailless Gibbons and Siamangs are perceived as "Lesser Apes" that are more "monkey-like," and are therefore placed in a separate family Hylobatidae, alongside the Greater Ape family (Pongidae). By "promoting" humans to a distinct family, this arrangement implies that chimps are more closely related to gorillas than to humans, and that Lesser and Greater apes are more closely related to each other than the latter is to humans.

    Phylogenetic classification [left] assigns names to monophyletic lineages within the evolutionary tree. Among the Anthropoid ("man-like") Apes, gibbons and the Great Apes (including Homo) are recognized as separate evolutionary lineages, and are placed in separate families (Hylobatidae & Pongidae, respectively). Within the latter, Homo, Pan, & Gorilla are a closely related group recognizable as a subfamily, Gorillinae. Given the recent recognition that Homo and Pan are each others closest living relatives, they can be recognized as a tribe, Panini. (The name Homini is already used, and thus 'unavailable' according to the rules). The GenBank classification used for retrieval of DNA sequences uses a phylogenetic taxonomy that recognizes all apes as the superfamily Hominoidea, Great Apes as Hominidae, Gorillas, Chimps, and Humans as three genera in the subfamily Homininae, and orangutans as Ponginae.