[9] Members of the human clade, i.e. the Hominini after the split from the chimpanzees, are called Hominina[10] (see Hominidae; terms "hominids" and hominins).

[11][12] The australopithecines occurred in the Late Miocene sub-epoch and were bipedal, and they were dentally similar to humans, but with a brain size not much larger than that of modern non-human apes, with lesser encephalization than in the genus Homo.

Presently, it appears that A. garhi has the potential to occupy this coveted place in paleoanthropology, but the lack of fossil evidence is a serious problem.

Another problem presents itself in the fact that it has been very difficult to assess which hominid [now "hominin"] represents the first member of the genus Homo.

One proponent of this theory is Jens Lorenz Franzen, formerly Head of Paleoanthropology at the Research Institute Senckenberg.

This concept would explain the scanty remains from Java and China as relic of an Asian offshoot of an early radiation of Australopithecus, which was followed much later by an [African] immigration of Homo erectus, and finally became extinct after a period of coexistence.In 1957, an Early Pleistocene Chinese fossil tooth of unknown province was described as resembling P. robustus.

Three fossilized molars from Jianshi, China (Longgudong Cave) were later identified as belonging to an Australopithecus species.

[19] However further examination questioned this interpretation; Zhang (1984) argued the Jianshi teeth and unidentified tooth belong to H. erectus.