Comments (8)

1. Romeo Vitelli

   Have any identifiable Neanderthal remains been found in that region of the world? How could interbreed without leaving remains behind?

   April 20, 2010 at 9:35 pm
2. Razib Khan

   i think carl’s title was tongue-in-cheek i’ve read that there was a find from sichuan which had a neandertal morphology, but i haven’t seen that that was published.

   April 20, 2010 at 11:52 pm
3. Bob Carlson

   Well, if the results of the analysis of the DNA of Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis were to prove inconclusively that the two interbred, wouldn’t we, by definition, have either a new synonymy, or at least, a revised status in the nomenclature: Homo sapiens neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens sapiens?

   Note: Homo neanderthalensis came first in the geological record, but Homo sapiens surely has nomenclatural priority, precluding the more natural combination: Homo neanderthalensis sapiens.

   April 21, 2010 at 5:00 am
4. chris y

   but Homo sapiens surely has nomenclatural priority

   Certainly has; it was described by Linnaeus in 1758.

   I’m intrigued by the suggestion in the Nature article that the second period of interbreeding (c45k b.p.) affected modern populations in Oceania. I understood Australia and New Guinea were settled long before that, and the other island populations were close to various mainland groups, as in ‘the population from the first interbreeding went on to migrate to Europe, Asia and North America’. So where are these people hanging out, and how did they miss the ‘population from the first interbreeding’ getting there?

   April 21, 2010 at 11:38 am
5. Bob Carlson

   Re priority of Homo sapiens Linnaeus 1758

   Homo neanderthalensis was the first fossil hominid to be named, but that did not occur until 1864.

   April 21, 2010 at 3:46 pm
6. MattK

   A little bit of interbreeding does not on its own necessitate any taxonomic/nomenclatural change (thank the designer). Hybridization around the period (not point) of speciation seems to be pretty common but as long as gene flow remains relatively limited the species maintain separate identities.

   April 21, 2010 at 4:35 pm
7. Jim

   http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2005/feb/19/science.sciencenews

   May 7, 2010 at 10:04 am