How many extinct human species were there?

There’s Homo sapiens, the only one which survives to the present, the most intelligent and successful one. Think of H. sapiens as the rich, well-off guy in the family, who should be looking after his less fortunate folks - not competing them to extinction.

Homo habilis, a hairy fellow who was one of the earliest humans to use stone tools, living from 2.1 - 1.5 million years ago. Evidently a dietary staple for the formidable cat Dinofelis, which has been sometimes called a specialized primate hunter.

Homo rudolfensis, possibly an Australopithecus, H. habilis or even H. erectus. Even for a Homo species, Rudolf’s classification is hotly debated and the species might not be valid.

Homo gautengensis. This species has been proposed by one man, Darren Curnoe. According to him, it was the earliest species in the genus Homo and it was more herbivorous than any other known human species.

Homo erectus (*giggle*), one of the best-studied human species. It was highly diverse in morphology, much more diverse than we are. Ranging across much of the Old World, it was very successful, second to us even.

Homo ergaster, possible ancestor to erectus, possible descendant of habilis, possible - or rather, probable - population of erectus. In any case, this species invented Acheulean technology, meaning that their hand-axes were bifaced, symmetrical, and could be used on both sides.

Homo antecessor, considered by some to be a member of a different species, H. heidelbergensis. They are the earliest ape species which were evidently chiefly right-handed, and - judging from flensing cuts inflicted on bones - were apparently cannibalistic.

Homo heidelbergensis… the tall one, as it will forever be known. Adults apparently commonly reached 2.1 meters in height, and this has been proposed to be an adaptation for hunting on grasslands.

Homo cepranensis, probably just a heidelbergensis. Found in Ceprano, Italy, this proposed species is known from only a single fossil, a skullcap, which was damaged by a bulldozer. There’s not much else to say about it.

Homo rhodesiensis. Like so many on this list, thought by many not to exist. In this case, it’s either a unique species, another H. heidelbergensis, or even a subspecies of sapiens. If it is valid, it might be ancestral to us, although a 140,000 year gap still needs to be explained.

Homo naledi, a mysterious, but relatively undisputed, species. Interestingly enough, tooth wear indicates they consumed large quantities of something like dust or grit. We’ve attempted to extract DNA from fossils, but thus far, have failed.

Homo neanderthalensis, everyone’s favorite. Inhabiting Europe and being specialized for cold climates, they’ve been shown to much more sophisticated than previously thought. In fact, very recent discoveries have shown that they captured golden eagles as hunting companions, the oldest example of animal husbandry.

Homo floresiensis, the “hobbit of Flores”. Standing only 4 feet tall, these diminutive characters coexisted with dwarf elephants, Komodo dragons and giant marabou storks. Possibly my favourite extinct human species.

Homo tschaichangensis, also known as Penghu 1 (noot noot). Retrieved from a seabed off the coast of Taiwan, this has been classified by some as a Homo erectus, and others even place it as a Homo sapiens. However, several argue that it is a unique species.

The Denisovans, which promiscuously interbred with Asian Homo sapiens. Once restricted to the Denisova cave, Siberia, fossils have just been uncovered in China, in what would have been a place of very high altitude. We weren’t the only human species to climb mountains.

The Red Deer Cave people, who have no scientific name. Either they’re a unique species, or a Denisovan-sapiens hybrid. In case you’re wondering, they evidently cooked red deer in the cave they were found in, hence the name of the cave and consequently them.

Lastly, Homo luzonensis, the most recently discovered human species. Found in the Philippines, they were apparently short like Homo floresiensis and could be allied to that species. They were small enough to make easy prey of the Philippine eagle (a specialized primate-hunter), which they coexisted with.

This answer’s starting to get pretty long, but to answer your other questions, they all lived at different times, but some overlapped. The earliest species lived about 2.8 million years ago. Their various extinctions likely had different causes - for some, it was competition from other humans, for others, they were simply absorbed into the gene pool of more numerous species through interbreeding.

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