万物简史 第630期:神秘的两足动物(8)

（单词翻译）

In an attempt to introduce some order, in 1960 F. Clark Howell of the University of Chicago, following the suggestions of Ernst Mayr and others the previous decade, proposed cutting the number of genera to just two—Australopithecus and Homo —and rationalizing many of the species. The Java and Peking men both became Homo erectus. For a time order prevailed in the world of the hominids. It didn't last.

1960年，为了清理一下杂乱无章的人科动物的名称，芝加哥大学的克拉克·豪成尔根据恩斯特·梅耶以及此前10年间其他人提出的建议，提出减少为两大属——南方古狻属和人属——他还对许多种属进行了合理化归类。爪哇人和北京人都属于直立人。这种归类法有一段时间在人科动物界十分流行，但是却没有持续很久。

Humans are put in the lamely¹ Homimdae. Its members, traditionally called hominids, include any creatures (including extinct ones) that are more closely related to us than to any surviving chimpanzees. The apes, meanwhile, are lumped together in a family called Pongidae. Many authorities believe that chimps², gorillas³, and orangutans should also be included in this family, with humans and chimps in a subfamily called Homininae. The upshot is that the creatures traditionally called hominids become, under this arrangement, hominins. (Leakey and others insist on that designation.) Hominoidea is the name of the aue sunerfamily which includes us.

（注：人类被归人人亚科家族中，其成员传统上被称为人科动物，包括所有比黑猩猩更接近我们的任何动物[绝种的也在其内]。而猿与人科动物汇成人猿超科家族。许多权威认为黑猩猩、大猩猩和猩猩也应归入这个家族，而人类和黑猩猩同属于一个被称为人科的亚科。根据这一说法，所有传统上被称为人科的动物变成了人猿超科。[利基和其他一些人坚持这种说法。]人猿超科是猿类总科的称谓，其中包括我们。）

After about a decade of comparative calm, paleoanthropology embarked⁴ on another period of swift and prolific⁵ discovery, which hasn't abated⁶ yet. The 1960s produced Homo habilis, thought by some to be the missing link between apes and humans, but thought by others not to be a separate species at all. Then came (among many others) Homo ergaster, Homo louisleakeyi, Homo rudolfensis, Homo microcranus, and Homo antecessor, as well as a raft of australopithecines: A.afarensis, A. praegens, A. ramidus, A. walkeri, A. anamensis, and still others. Altogether, some twenty types of hominid are recognized in the literature today. Unfortunately, almost no two experts recognize the same twenty.

在大约10年的相对平静之后，古人类学又迎来了一个发现层出不穷，直到今天也势头不减的时期。20世纪60年代发现的能人被有些人认为是弥补了猿和人类之间的一段空白，可是另外有一些人认为它根本不是另外一个种类。接着（在众多的其他类中）相继出现了匠人、路易斯·利氏人、鲁道夫人、小颅人、前人，而南方古猿也出现了众多的种类：阿法南猿、Walkeri、始祖种南猿、沃克氏南猿、湖泊种南猿等等。到目前为止，有文献记录的人科动物种类总共有近20种，可是究竟是哪20种，没有任何两个专家的看法是一致的。