Re: Polycentric or Rapid-Plac

NeilFoglia (neilfoglia@aol.com)
27 May 1995 09:56:44 -0400

Jim Moore (j#d#.moore@canrem.com) on the subject of multi-regionalism vs.
out of Africa writes:

> I don't know that you
>could accurately say that either is "more accepted"; it's an ongoing
>debate, and probably will be for some time. "Support" see-saws.

I have long been a multiregionalist, but the see-saw has been tipping far
to much of late in one direction only. While reading Tattersall's "The
Fossil Trail" and Eldredge's "Reinventing Darwin" I've just about reached
the conclusion that multiregionalism is dead. Couple these works with
recent articles in "SCIENCE" regarding punctuated equilibria and next
weeks y-chromosome studies and it seems that all the lastest findings have
lent support for Out of Africa.
I still have some problems with OOA, but can't deny that this mode of
speciation is more in tune with the idea that geographic isolation seems
to be a major ingredient in most cases of speciation. Stasis seems to be
the rule for a wide spread freely interbreeding species.