Pacific Islanders appear to be carrying the DNA of an unknown human species

[WillParkinson]

Hints of an unidentified, extinct human species have been found in the DNA of modern Melanesians - those living in a region of the South Pacific, northeast of Australia.

According to new genetic modelling, the species is unlikely to be Neanderthal or Denisovan - two ancient species that are represented in the fossil record - but could represent a third, unknown human relative that has so far eluded archaeologists.


"We’re missing a population, or we’re misunderstanding something about the relationships," Ryan Bohlender, a statistical geneticist from the University of Texas, told Tina Hesman Saey at Science News.

http://www.sciencealert.com/pacific-islanders-appear-to-be-carrying-the-dna-of-an-unknown-human-species

[Sanity Claws]

1. Maybe an alien species

I know if I were an ET, I'd pick the South Pacific as a place to live on this planet.

(In case it's not obvious, this is a joke.)

[Lochloosa]

2. Maybe...

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. Strange that it doesn't mention floresiensis

H. floresiensis, which lived from approximately 100,000 to 12,000 years before present, has been nicknamed hobbit for its small size, possibly a result of insular dwarfism.[157] H. floresiensis is intriguing both for its size and its age, being an example of a recent species of the genus Homo that exhibits derived traits not shared with modern humans. In other words, H. floresiensis shares a common ancestor with modern humans, but split from the modern human lineage and followed a distinct evolutionary path. The main find was a skeleton believed to be a woman of about 30 years of age. Found in 2003, it has been dated to approximately 18,000 years old. The living woman was estimated to be one meter in height, with a brain volume of just 380 cm3 (considered small for a chimpanzee and less than a third of the H. sapiens average of 1400 cm3).[citation needed]

However, there is an ongoing debate over whether H. floresiensis is indeed a separate species.[158] Some scientists hold that H. floresiensis was a modern H. sapiens with pathological dwarfism.[159] This hypothesis is supported in part, because some modern humans who live on Flores, the Indonesian island where the skeleton was found, are pygmies. This, coupled with pathological dwarfism, could have resulted in a significantly diminutive human. The other major attack on H. floresiensis as a separate species is that it was found with tools only associated with H. sapiens.[159]

The hypothesis of pathological dwarfism, however, fails to explain additional anatomical features that are unlike those of modern humans (diseased or not) but much like those of ancient members of our genus. Aside from cranial features, these features include the form of bones in the wrist, forearm, shoulder, knees, and feet. Additionally, this hypothesis fails to explain the find of multiple examples of individuals with these same characteristics, indicating they were common to a large population, and not limited to one individual. -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_evolution#H._floresiensis

[cstanleytech]

19. I was thinking of that as well but perhaps they already checked that DNA?

[Historic NY]

4. Great now it breathes life into Alien conspiracies episodes...

[Hekate]

5. KnR to read link later

[bucolic_frolic]

6. I'm just a sometimes vegetarian

but if you're gonna eat snakes ...

and the effect could be compounded over hundreds of thousands of years



_________________________

I suppose all will let me know if my humor is really bad

[allan01]

7. this

[dembotoz]

8. loved that show except for that damn little kid and his robot dog

[BumRushDaShow]

12. Oh leave Boxey and Muffet alone

[packman]

13. Never forget that one episode

of when they were viewing earth (The mother planet supposedly ancient and wise) thru their monitors and commented on a traffic jam as how well organized and orderly we were.

Plus , I loved those Cylons -

[Spitfire of ATJ]

10. ...

[yuiyoshida]

11. HOLY COW!! Maybe I have some of those genes, I am part Hawaiian Native (Polynesian)

Pacific Islander!
Very cool!

[msanthrope]

14. Cylon. nt

[PatSeg]

15. Fascinating stuff!

Thanks for posting.

[anamandujano]

16. +1

[colsohlibgal]

17. Fascinating

We keep finding new lines of human or human like species. The deep past is intriguing...other than to those who choose to ignore scientific fact and think it all began 5-6,000 years ago.

[kristopher]

20. Could someone provide a framework for what a speciation event looks like...

in the fossil record or as a part of the DNA profile?