Geneticists report that a region in the South Pacific known
as Melanesia, contains human residents who may carry genetic evidence of a
previously unknown extinct hominid species. Ryan Bohlender, a geneticist at the
University of Texas Cancer Center, believes that the species isn’t Neandertal
or Denisovan, but a different hominid group. The unknown group of hominids
seems to be from a third branch of the hominid family tree that produced
Neandertals and Denisovans. Even though there are no physical remnants of
archaic human relatives the ancestry has been preserved in human DNA.
Eske Willerslev, an evolutionary geneticist at the Natural
History Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen, examined DNA from 83 aboriginal
Australians and 25 from Native Papua New Guinea residents. The researchers
found genetically distinct DNA that is like the Denisovan DNA, but quite possibly
from another hominid. Very little is
known about the genetic makeup of extinct groups, so it’s difficult to
distinguish if it’s from an undiscovered species or not. Denisovan remains have
only been found in one single cave in Siberia. It’s possible that the Denisovans
group could’ve been separated long enough that they looked different from each other.
It is also possible that they weren’t very genetically diverse, and the
ancestor could be another species. Very little is known as of now, but in the
future if a physical remnant of this other species is found, it would be ground
breaking.
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