Hominoidea is a superfamily of primates. Members of this superfamily are called hominoids or apes, and include gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans, gibbons, bonobos, and humans. Hominoidea is one of the six major groups in the order Primates. The majority are found in forests in Southeastern Asia and Equatorial Africa, with the exception of humans, which have spread worldwide to every biome. They range in size from some gibbon species in the genus Nomascus, at 400NaN0, to the eastern gorilla, at 1960NaN0, not including limbs. Hominoids primarily eat fruit, leaves, flowers, and insects, though humans are omnivorous. Most hominoids do not have population estimates, but the ones that do range from 10 mature individuals to 47,000, in addition to over 8 billion humans. Nearly every species is categorized as endangered or critically endangered; aside from humans, the only exception is the eastern hoolock gibbon, classified as vulnerable.
The twenty-eight extant species of Hominoidea are divided into two families: Hominidae, containing five gorilla, chimpanzee, and human species divided into three genera in the subfamily Homininae, and three orangutan species in a single genus in the subfamily Ponginae; and Hylobatidae, containing twenty gibbon species divided into four genera. Dozens of extinct prehistoric hominoid species have been discovered, though due to ongoing research and discoveries the exact number and categorization is not fixed.
Conservation status codes listed follow the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. Range maps are provided wherever possible; if a range map is not available, a description of the hominoid's range is provided. Ranges are based on the IUCN Red List for that species unless otherwise noted. All extinct genera, species, or subspecies listed alongside extant species went extinct after 1500 CE, and are indicated by a dagger symbol "".
The superfamily Hominoidea consists of two extant families: Hominidae and Hylobatidae. Hominidae is divided into two subfamilies: Homininae, containing five species divided between three genera, and Ponginae, containing three species in a single genus. Hylobatidae contains twenty species in four genera.
Family Hominidae
Family Hylobatidae
The following classification is based on the taxonomy described by the reference work Mammal Species of the World (2005), with augmentation by generally accepted proposals made since using molecular phylogenetic analysis, as supported by both the IUCN and the American Society of Mammalogists.
See main article: article and Hominidae.
See main article: article and Homininae.
See main article: article and Ponginae.
See main article: article and Hylobatidae.