[Taxacom] Homo sapiens neanderthalensis

[Ken Kinman]

Hi Curtis,

 

      I wouldn't single out any one of those mechanisms in particular, since it could be the result of a combination of two or more mechanisms.  Not sure if any molecularists have plans to test such possibilities or not.  However, I am optimistic that increasing interest in the subject of Neanderthal-modern hybrids (or integrades, if you will), will yield more fossils and additional discoveries coming from a more intense study of the Neanderthal (and Denisovan) genomes. I assume some papers are probable already in the pipeline and am looking forward to more surprises.     

 

                          ----------------------Ken

 

===============================
 

> Date: Sun, 19 May 2013 13:31:22 -0700
> From: lists at curtisclark.org
> To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Homo sapiens neanderthalensis
> 
> On 2013-05-19 12:42 PM, Ken Kinman wrote:
> > Although most of today's populations have only about 2-4% Neanderthal 
> > genes, that percentage was probably much higher while Neanderthals 
> > were still around and gradually decreased over time. 
> 
> What mechanism do you propose? Increased back-crossing to modern humans? 
> Selection against intermediate phenotypes? Subsequent influx of 
> additional modern humans? Higher reproductive rate of modern humans 
> leading to exaggerated differences in population sizes? Any of these 
> seem reasonable, and all are at least theoretically testable, although 
> the paucity of fossil evidence makes testing difficult. But the bottom 
> line is that no had-waving is needed.
> 
> -- 
> Curtis Clark http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark
> Biological Sciences +1 909 869 4140
> Cal Poly Pomona, Pomona CA 91768
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Taxacom Mailing List
> Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
> 
> The Taxacom Archive back to 1992 may be searched with either of these methods:
> 
> (1) by visiting http://taxacom.markmail.org
> 
> (2) a Google search specified as: site:mailman.nhm.ku.edu/pipermail/taxacom your search terms here
> 
> Celebrating 26 years of Taxacom in 2013.