Re: Speciation - how do you know?

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On Fri, 6 Sep 1996 12:36:59 GMT, tedwards@DialUp.FranceNet.fr (Tim Edwards
and/or Marghie Parsons) wrote:

>In paleoanthropology, how do researchers determine that one creature
>is not the same species as another? Am I correct in my understanding
>that the question is still open vis-a-vis modern humans and
>Neanderthals? Is it pretty much accepted that Homo Erectus was a
>separate species?

No, they are not even certain that even Homo Erectus was a separate species
yet.

If you look at the bodies (below the neck) of modern man, neanderthals, and
erectuses, they are identical. The only difference is in the shape of the
skull. Even within the skull, you find many features like the inner ear
cavity among other things that are completely identical between them all.

Yousuf Khan

--

Yousuf J. Khan

ykhan@achilles.net

Ottawa, Ont, Canada

Nation's capital

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