Neanderthals Were Seperate Species, Says New Human Family Tree

Physorg ^ | 5-4-2008

[blam]

Thanks to Red Badger for the article.

[blam]

GGG Ping.

[Clock King]

I thought this was already established?

[VRWCmember]

Great! Just what I needed to cause another existential meltdown!

[SoldierDad]

Ah, it all makes sense now. Homo Sapiens became the conservatives, while the Neanderthals = the liberals.

[RepublitarianRoger2]

I’m confused; I thought that they were long known as a separate species: Homo Neanderthalensis. A separate species of the Homo genus. No?

[Parley Baer]

I don’t think the Neanderthals are extinct. From what I have seen their gene pool is still alive.

[toast]

I thought one of the definitions of a separate species was that two different parent species could not produce fertile offspring.

How could they co-mingle the 2 species?

[pissant]

No duh. They only have 4 fingers and 3 toes.

[ClearCase_guy]

On the other hand, the Neanderthals are declared "chronological variants inside a single biological heritage," in other words, evolutionary cousins but still a separate species from us.

Ahem. Given the standard model of evolution, would it be safe to say that algae and humans are chronological variants inside a single biological heritage?

[MovementConservative]

That wax figure of Neanderthal looks rather pensive. Seems like from what I learned the Neanderthals were more pack-like and didn’t spend much time in dead philosophical thought. They didn’t even care for their dead from what I remember.

[KarlInOhio]

I thought one of the definitions of a separate species was that two different parent species could not produce fertile offspring. How could they co-mingle the 2 species?

If you could find evidence that either they could breed together or couldn't, then you would answer the question of whether they are separate species. We don't know for sure, so all else is speculation.

I don't think that genetic science has advanced far enough to tell just from DNA samples whether two close samples could interbreed or not.

[bert]

If you are a biologist working on a Phd, a sure fire thesis is to split out a new species.

I’m a lumper at heart

[Wolfstar]

I thought one of the definitions of a separate species was that two different parent species could not produce fertile offspring.

That's a common, but incorrect, understanding of the term. Merriam-Webster defines the word "species" as follows:

A category of biological classification ranking immediately below the genus or subgenus, comprising related organisms or populations potentially capable of interbreeding, and being designated by a binomial that consists of the name of a genus followed by a Latin or latinized uncapitalized noun or adjective agreeing grammatically with the genus name.

[BenLurkin]

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/neanderthals.html?c=y&page=4

[Wolfstar]

They didn’t even care for their dead from what I remember.

Not true. Neanterthals buried their dead. They also cared for their sick and injured.

[toast]

Then what is the difference between a separate race and a separate species?

[Ozone34]

I don’t think so....

“Buried Alive: The Startling Truth About Neanderthal Man”
http://www.amazon.com/Buried-Alive-Startling-Truth-Neanderthal/dp/0890512388

[Red Badger]

They were all Homos, that’s why there ain’t no more......

[11th Commandment]

I thought this was already established?

True, I know of two separate DNA studies as early as 1996 that established this fact. Also to my surprise, anthropologists generally reject Cro Magnon as precedent species to homo sapian sapain (man). Research on this dates back as early as 1978. So that are two "links" missing right before man on the evolutionary chain. But no need to throw out evolution since there is much consensus on the issue.