In an article by Live Sceince, an extinct lineage that lived in New Guinea interbred with modern humans called Homo luzonensis. This new addition to the human family tree was discovered in a cave in the Philippines. This extinct lineage lived on what is now the island of Luzon around 50,000 years ago. Scientists believe that they stood less than three feet tall, making them the smallest out of all the extinct Homo lineages. They had extremely small teeth and had three roots, unlike our teeth which have one root. They also only had one toe bone, unlike the three toes bones we have. This discovery adds new complexity to the story of human evolution. According to Times Magazine, it is possible that there may be many other lineages that are still unknown in New Guinea. This discovery may just be the beginning on the completion of the human lineage. The picture below is the cave where Homo luzonensis was discovered in New Guinea.
Incredible that were still finding ancestors to human beings. This could benefit health by having more DNA to compare today's human genomes with. By having more known DNA will help to identify what traits different humans have in common and possible what humans have in common with other species. Although, it's not the focus this could also help with the work of human evolution to see where humans may have come from and also see where the human race is headed in the future.
ReplyDeleteThis discovery shows how much the species, specially humans have evolved. And adds to the data that may agree with or reject current theories of evolution. The anatomical features of the remainings found, might support the idea that we are very closely related to primates.
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ReplyDeleteI thought this discovery was highly interesting. As someone who loves paleoanthropology, it's always amazing to hear of another group of hominin added to the human family tree. It's also quite interesting that this new species was discovered in southeast Asia. Oceania and southeast Asia have been a hotbed for hominin genetic and fossil discoveries as of late: from the discovery of the "Hobbit", a hominin from the island of Flores, a few years back, to the recent research done on Denisovan DNA found in modern peoples living in New Guinea and the rest of Melanesia.
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