scholarly journals A Brief Overview of the Last 10 Years of Major Late Pleistocene Discoveries in the Old World: Homo floresiensis, Neanderthal, and Denisovan

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Fernanda Neubauer
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Human Evolution ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Morphological Diversity ◽  
Genetic Data ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Separate Species ◽  
Skeletal Morphology ◽  
Old World ◽  
Human Dna

In the last ten years, new fossil, archaeological, and genetic data have significantly altered our understanding of the peopling of the Old World in the Late Pleistocene. Scholars have long been challenged to define humanity’s place in evolution and to trace our phylogeny. Differences in the skeletal morphology of hominin fossils have often led to the naming of distinct new species, but recent genetic findings have challenged the traditional perspective by demonstrating that modern human DNA contains genes inherited from Neanderthals and Denisovans, thus questioning their status as separate species. The recent discovery of Homo floresiensis from Flores Island has also raised interesting queries about how much genetic and morphological diversity was present during the Late Pleistocene. This paper discusses the nature and implications of the evidence with respect to Homo floresiensis, Neanderthals, and Denisovans and briefly reviews major Late Pleistocene discoveries from the last ten years of research in the Old World and their significance to the study of human evolution.

scholarly journals UMA BREVE VISÃO GERAL DOS ÚLTIMOS 10 ANOS DAS PRINCIPAIS DESCOBERTAS DO PLEISTOCENO SUPERIOR NO VELHO MUNDO: HOMO FLORESIENSIS, NEANDERTAL, DENISOVAN

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (32) ◽  
pp. 204
Author(s):  
Fernanda Neubauer
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Human Evolution ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Morphological Diversity ◽  
Genetic Data ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Separate Species ◽  
Skeletal Morphology ◽  
Old World ◽  
Human Dna

Nos últimos dez anos, novos dados fósseis, arqueológicos e genéticos alteraram significativamente nossa compreensão sobre o povoamento do Velho Mundo no Pleistoceno Superior. Os pesquisadores há muito têm sido desafiados a definir o lugar da humanidade na evolução e a rastrear nossa filogenia. Diferenças na morfologia esquelética de fósseis de hominídeos muitas vezes levaram à nomeação de novas espécies distintas, mas descobertas genéticas recentes desafiaram a perspectiva tradicional, demonstrando que o DNA humano moderno contém genes herdados dos Neandertais e Denisovans, questionando assim seu status como uma espécie separada. A recente descoberta do Homo floresiensis da Ilha de Flores também levantou questões interessantes sobre a quantidade de diversidade genética e morfológica que estava presente durante o Pleistoceno Superior. Este artigo discute a natureza e as implicações da evidência em relação ao Homo floresiensis, Neandertais e Denisovans, e analisa brevemente as principais descobertas do Pleistoceno Superior nos últimos dez anos de pesquisa no Velho Mundo e sua importância para o estudo da evolução humana.Abstract: In the last ten years, new fossil, archaeological, and genetic data have significantly altered our understanding of the peopling of the Old World in the Late Pleistocene. Scholars have long been challenged to define humanity’s place in evolution and to trace our phylogeny. Differences in the skeletal morphology of hominin fossils have often led to the naming of distinct new species, but recent genetic findings have challenged the traditional perspective by demonstrating that modern human DNA contains genes inherited from Neandertals and Denisovans, thus questioning their status as separate species. The recent discovery of Homo floresiensis from Flores Island has also raised interesting queries about how much genetic and morphological diversity was present during the Late Pleistocene. This article discusses the nature and implications of the evidence with respect to Homo floresiensis. Neandertals and Denisovans, and briefly reviews major Late Pleistocene discoveries from the last ten years of research in the Old World and their significance to the study of human evolution.

A new species of Pygopus (Pygopodidae; Gekkota; Squamata) from north-eastern Queensland

Zootaxa ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 2578 (1) ◽  
pp. 47 ◽  
Author(s):  
PAUL M. OLIVER ◽  
PATRICK COUPER ◽  
ANDREW AMEY
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Morphological Diversity ◽  
Genetic Data ◽  
Lower Number ◽  
Evolutionary Divergence ◽  
Isolated Populations ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
A New Species ◽  
Geographically Isolated

Based on a combination of morphological and genetic data, geographically isolated populations of Pygopus from northeastern Queensland, formerly referred to Pygopus lepidopodus (Lacépède), are herein described as a new species. Pygopus robertsi sp. nov. can be diagnosed from its congeners by a suite of scalation characters, including fewer keeled dorsal scales, presence of a single continuous row of supracilaries and a lower number of midbody scale rows. It is also deeply divergent genetically from samples of Pygopus lepidopodus from southern Australia. The known distribution of Pygopus robertsi sp. nov. is similar to that of a number of taxa centred upon relatively dry ecotonal habitats at the western edge of the rainforest blocks of north-eastern Queensland. Additional samples and systematic work will be required to examine the evolutionary divergence of apparently isolated populations of the new species, and the significance of considerable genetic and morphological diversity within remaining populations of Pygopus lepidopodus from south-eastern and southern Australia.

Human Evolution: A Very Short Introduction

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard Wood
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Biology ◽  
Human Evolution ◽  
New Taxa ◽  
Ancient Dna ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Short Introduction ◽  
Human Dna ◽  
History Of ◽  
Fossil Records

Human Evolution: A Very Short Introduction traces the history of palaeoanthropology from its beginnings in the 18th century to the very latest fossil finds. In this new edition it discusses how ancient DNA studies have revolutionized how we view the recent (post-550,000 years ago) human evolution, and the process of speciation. The combination of ancient and modern human DNA has contributed to discoveries of new taxa, as well as the suggestion of ‘ghost’ taxa whose fossil records still remain to be discovered. Considering the contributions of related sciences such as palaeoclimatology, geochronology, systematics, genetics, and developmental biology, this VSI explores our latest understandings of our own evolution.

scholarly journals The origin and evolution of Homo sapiens

2016 ◽  
Vol 371 (1698) ◽  
pp. 20150237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Stringer
Keyword(s):  
Human Evolution ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Species Recognition ◽  
Genetic Data ◽  
Middle Stone Age ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Last Common Ancestor ◽  
The Impact

If we restrict the use of Homo sapiens in the fossil record to specimens which share a significant number of derived features in the skeleton with extant H. sapiens , the origin of our species would be placed in the African late middle Pleistocene, based on fossils such as Omo Kibish 1, Herto 1 and 2, and the Levantine material from Skhul and Qafzeh. However, genetic data suggest that we and our sister species Homo neanderthalensis shared a last common ancestor in the middle Pleistocene approximately 400–700 ka, which is at least 200 000 years earlier than the species origin indicated from the fossils already mentioned. Thus, it is likely that the African fossil record will document early members of the sapiens lineage showing only some of the derived features of late members of the lineage. On that basis, I argue that human fossils such as those from Jebel Irhoud, Florisbad, Eliye Springs and Omo Kibish 2 do represent early members of the species, but variation across the African later middle Pleistocene/early Middle Stone Age fossils shows that there was not a simple linear progression towards later sapiens morphology, and there was chronological overlap between different ‘archaic’ and ‘modern’ morphs. Even in the late Pleistocene within and outside Africa, we find H. sapiens specimens which are clearly outside the range of Holocene members of the species, showing the complexity of recent human evolution. The impact on species recognition of late Pleistocene gene flow between the lineages of modern humans, Neanderthals and Denisovans is also discussed, and finally, I reconsider the nature of the middle Pleistocene ancestor of these lineages, based on recent morphological and genetic data. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Major transitions in human evolution’.

scholarly journals Initial Upper Palaeolithic humans in Europe had recent Neanderthal ancestry

Nature ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 592 (7853) ◽  
pp. 253-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mateja Hajdinjak ◽  
Fabrizio Mafessoni ◽  
Laurits Skov ◽  
Benjamin Vernot ◽  
Alexander Hübner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Family History ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Human Migration ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Genome Wide Data

AbstractModern humans appeared in Europe by at least 45,000 years ago1–5, but the extent of their interactions with Neanderthals, who disappeared by about 40,000 years ago6, and their relationship to the broader expansion of modern humans outside Africa are poorly understood. Here we present genome-wide data from three individuals dated to between 45,930 and 42,580 years ago from Bacho Kiro Cave, Bulgaria1,2. They are the earliest Late Pleistocene modern humans known to have been recovered in Europe so far, and were found in association with an Initial Upper Palaeolithic artefact assemblage. Unlike two previously studied individuals of similar ages from Romania7 and Siberia8 who did not contribute detectably to later populations, these individuals are more closely related to present-day and ancient populations in East Asia and the Americas than to later west Eurasian populations. This indicates that they belonged to a modern human migration into Europe that was not previously known from the genetic record, and provides evidence that there was at least some continuity between the earliest modern humans in Europe and later people in Eurasia. Moreover, we find that all three individuals had Neanderthal ancestors a few generations back in their family history, confirming that the first European modern humans mixed with Neanderthals and suggesting that such mixing could have been common.

scholarly journals Black spicules from a new interstitial opheliid polychaete Thoracophelia minuta sp. nov. (Annelida: Opheliidae)

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Naoto Jimi ◽  
Shinta Fujimoto ◽  
Mami Takehara ◽  
Satoshi Imura
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Biology ◽  
Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
New Species ◽  
Morphological Diversity ◽  
The Body ◽  
Evolutionary Significance ◽  
Research Subject ◽  
Ecological Diversity ◽  
Coelomic Cavity ◽  
Molecular Phylogenetic

AbstractThe phylum Annelida exhibits high morphological diversity coupled with its extensive ecological diversity, and the process of its evolution has been an attractive research subject for many researchers. Its representatives are also extensively studied in fields of ecology and developmental biology and important in many other biology related disciplines. The study of biomineralisation is one of them. Some annelid groups are well known to form calcified tubes but other forms of biomineralisation are also known. Herein, we report a new interstitial annelid species with black spicules, Thoracophelia minuta sp. nov., from Yoichi, Hokkaido, Japan. Spicules are minute calcium carbonate inclusions found across the body and in this new species, numerous black rod-like inclusions of calcium-rich composition are distributed in the coelomic cavity. The new species can be distinguished from other known species of the genus by these conspicuous spicules, shape of branchiae and body formula. Further, the new species’ body size is apparently smaller than its congeners. Based on our molecular phylogenetic analysis using 18S and 28S sequences, we discuss the evolutionary significance of the new species’ spicules and also the species' progenetic origin.

A taxonomic revision of the genus Mesophleps Hübner, 1825 (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae)

Zootaxa ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 3373 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
HOUHUN LI ◽  
KLAUS SATTLER
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Taxonomic Revision ◽  
Species Group ◽  
Type Material ◽  
Nominal Species ◽  
New Combinations ◽  
Old World

The genus Mesophleps Hübner (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) is revised; 54 available names (including one unjustifiedemendation), one junior primary homonym and one unavailable name were considered; type material of 44 previouslydescribed nominal species was examined. Nine new species are described: M. acutunca sp. nov., M. bifidella sp. nov., M.unguella sp. nov., M. gigantella sp. nov., M. coffeae sp. nov., M. parvella sp. nov., M. aspina sp. nov., M. truncatella sp.nov. and M. undulatella sp. nov. Two possibly new species are discussed but not formally named for lack of material.Twenty-five new combinations are introduced: M. safranella (Legrand, 1965) comb. nov., M. epichorda (Turner, 1919)comb. nov., M. tabellata (Meyrick, 1913) comb. nov., M. crocina (Meyrick, 1904) comb. nov., M. ochracella (Turati,1926) comb. nov., M. geodes (Meyrick, 1929) comb. nov., M. catericta (Meyrick, 1927) comb. nov., M. tephrastis(Meyrick, 1904) comb. nov., M. cycnobathra (Lower, 1898) comb. nov., M. tetrachroa (Lower, 1898) comb. nov., M.ochroloma (Lower, 1901) comb. nov., M. trichombra (Lower, 1898) comb. nov., M. mylicotis (Meyrick, 1904) comb. nov.,M. macrosemus (Lower, 1900) comb. nov., M. apentheta (Turner, 1919) comb. nov., M. meliphanes (Lower, 1894) comb.nov., M. chloranthes (Lower, 1900) comb. nov., M. centrothetis (Meyrick, 1904) comb. nov., M. chloristis (Meyrick,1904) comb. nov., M. argonota (Lower, 1901) comb. nov., Megacraspedus arnaldi (Turati & Krüger, 1936) comb. nov.,Aponoea cinerellus (Turati, 1930) comb. nov., Pycnobathra acromelas (Turner, 1919) comb. nov., Sarotorna mesoleuca(Lower, 1900) comb. nov., S. dentata Meyrick, 1904, comb. nov. One species, Nothris mesophracta Turner, 1919, isremoved from Mesophleps but no current genus is available. Fourteen new synonymies (one genus, 13 species-group taxa)are established: Bucolarcha Meyrick, 1929, syn. nov. of Mesophleps Hübner, [1825]; Stiphrostola longinqua Meyrick,1923, syn. nov. and Brachyacma trychota Meyrick, 1929, syn. nov. of M. ioloncha (Meyrick, 1905); Lipatia crotalariellaBusck, 1910, syn. nov. of M. adustipennis (Walsingham, 1897); Brachyacma epichorda Turner, 1919, syn. nov. of M.epiochra (Meyrick, 1886); Mesophleps pudicellus var. apicellus Caradja, 1920, syn. nov. and Mesophleps silacellus subsp.calaritanus Amsel, 1939, syn. nov. of M. silacella (Hübner, 1796); Mesophleps lala Agenjo, [1961], syn. nov. of M.corsicella (Herrich-Schäffer, 1856); Crossobela barysphena Meyrick, 1923, syn. nov. of M. trinotella Herrich-Schäffer,1856; Mesophleps orientella Nel & Nel, 2003, syn. n. and Mesophleps gallicella Varenne & Nel, 2011, syn. nov. of M.ochracella (Turati, 1926); Nothris centrothetis Meyrick, 1904, syn. nov. and Nothris chloristis Meyrick, 1904, syn. nov.of M. chloranthes (Lower, 1900); Mesophleps cinerellus Turati, 1930, syn. nov. of Aponoea obtusipalpis Walsingham,1905. One genus and one species are recalled from synonymy: Pycnobathra Lower, 1901, gen. rev., and M. ioloncha(Meyrick, 1905) sp. rev. Lectotypes are designated, in accordance with the Code, article 74.7.3, for 14 species: Gelechiapalpigera Walsingham, 1891; Paraspistes ioloncha Meyrick, 1905; Lathontogenus adustipennis Walsingham, 1897;Brachyacma epichorda Turner, 1919; Nothris crocina Meyrick, 1904; Nothris ochracella Turati, 1926; Nothris tephrastisMeyrick, 1904; Ypsolophus ochroloma Lower, 1901; Ypsolophus macrosemus Lower, 1900; Nothris centrothetis Meyrick,1904; Nothris chloristis Meyrick, 1904; Ypsolophus argonota Lower, 1901; Mesophleps arnaldi Turati & Krüger, 1936,and Mesophleps cinerellus Turati, 1930. Mesophleps is a widely distributed Old World genus, except for one New Worldspecies, with seed-feeding larvae on Cupressaceae, Cistaceae, Cruciferae (Brassicaceae), Leguminosae (Fabaceae), Rubiaceae and doubtfully Dipterocarpaceae.

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