Re: Modern Neanderthals? To"Rohinton Collins"

David \ (dsierra@lonestar.jpl.utsa.edu)
Tue, 22 Oct 1996 15:38:36 -0500

On Mon, 21 Oct 1996, John POstley wrote:

> "distinct nasal
> aperature morphology"
> This is a feature which could have been lost, or merely receeded as
> the earth became warmer; being that it is a cold weather adaption..

Of all the differences in H.s.n. and H.s.s. physiology/morphology, I
would say this is the most important, because it show a potential
adaptive response to enviornmental pressures, a distinct step in
speciation. Is it great enough? That is the question, isn't it?

Again, I'm going from memory here, but I seem to remember an informal
pathway for speciation.

1)geographic isolation of a population from the rest of the species.

2)enviornmental pressures significant enough to amplify random,
benificial mutations in the isolated population's genome.

3)time enough (how long?) for those differences to become fixed in the
population's genome.

4)continued enviornmental stresses that need adaptation, further
diverging the isolated population and its parent species.

Later,
David Sierra