New human ancestor classified - Homo bodoensis

[gnostic]

Taxononic classification has always been composed of two oppositional groups. Lumpers and splitters. Personally. I am inclined to consider Neanderthals to be a distinct but sister species to archaic homo sapiens.

I was thinking the same thing.

The Neanderthals have distinctive physical traits to be different species, but at the same time, close enough to the Homo sapiens to interbreed with them.

The polar bears evolved from the ancestral brown bears during the recent Ice Ages, to be sister species, but still capable of breeding with the brown bears, to produce offspring.

Then again, the cladistic taxonomy (eg clade) are now being used in modern evolution, since the classification and relations between species are far more complex than relying on the earlier methodology of taxonomic classification.

 

[tas8831]

Taxononic classification has always been composed of two oppositional groups. Lumpers and splitters. Personally. I am inclined to consider Neanderthals to be a distinct but sister species to archaic homo sapiens. After all, reproductive capacity is not the only determinative factor that describes a population group as a discrete species or not. Wolves and Dogs for example can interbreed and are genetically speaking, practically identical. However they are considered separate species, because, they are geographically isolated from each other. Without a living population group of Neanderthals to study. It's very much a case of educated guess work, to determine just how similar or dissimilar Sapiens and Neanderthals are to each other psychologically culturally and linguistically. Anatomically, there are of course significant differences, the Neanderthal skeleton is considerably more robust, the chest cavity has greater volume (a cold weather trait) and other factors. Apologies if this is all bread and butter for you!

I used to be a splitter, but now am a lumper.

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

I used to be a splitter, but now am a lumper.

I'll bring the pitchforks. My splitter budies will bring the torches!

You run and hide!

 

[Wandering Monk]

New human ancestor classified - Homo bodoensis
10-29-2021, 11:08 AM

Source: Newly named human species may be the direct ancestor of modern humans


Newly named human species may be the direct ancestor of modern humans

homo bodoensis lived more than half a million years ago.

Scientists have named a new species that may have been the direct ancestor of modern humans.

The newly proposed species, Homo bodoensis — which lived more than half a million years ago in Africa — may help to untangle how human lineages moved and interacted across the globe.

Although modern humans, Homo sapiens, are the only surviving human lineage, other human species once roamed Earth. For example, scientists recently discovered that the Indonesian island Flores was once home to the extinct species Homo floresiensis, often known as "the hobbit" for its miniature body.

Deciding whether a set of ancient human fossils belongs to one species or another is often a challenging problem open to heated debate. For instance, some researchers suggest that skeletal differences between modern humans and Neanderthals mean they were different species. However, other scientists argue that because there is recent abundant genetic evidence that modern humans and Neanderthals once interbred and had fertile, viable offspring, Neanderthals should not be considered a single species.

How much variation in the continuum of Homo before a new species is defined? What is the demarcation line?

 

[tas8831]

I'll bring the pitchforks. My splitter budies will bring the torches!

You run and hide!

I should have tempered that a bit with - 'it depends on the circumstance'

Insta-splitting was something that used to annoy me about paleontologists.

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

I should have tempered that a bit with - 'it depends on the circumstance'
Insta-splitting was something that used to annoy me about paleontologists.

No backsies, you heretic!!

Haha.

On a more serious note, I think it's a truly fascinating subject.
Especially concerning extinct populations, indeed, when DO you lump or split?

It also speaks volumes about evolution.
And it's funny that creationists tend to interpret it in the exact opposite way. As in "see, they don't know what they are talking about... then it's a human and then it isn't, they are just guessing!!!"

In reality though, it's exactly what we should expect from a process like evolution. The closer related populations are, the harder it becomes to tell them apart.

 

[tas8831]

No backsies, you heretic!!

Haha.

On a more serious note, I think it's a truly fascinating subject.
Especially concerning extinct populations, indeed, when DO you lump or split?

It also speaks volumes about evolution.
And it's funny that creationists tend to interpret it in the exact opposite way. As in "see, they don't know what they are talking about... then it's a human and then it isn't, they are just guessing!!!"

In reality though, it's exactly what we should expect from a process like evolution. The closer related populations are, the harder it becomes to tell them apart.

All correct - and the 'when' question? A hard call.