Re: New paper: Neanderthals were not subspecies of H. sapiens, but different species

On 14/12/2024 16:32, erik simpson wrote:

On 12/14/24 6:58 AM, Chris Thompson wrote:

https://scitechdaily.com/rewriting-evolution-study-shows-neanderthals- and-humans-were-not-the-same-species/
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Interesting paper.  It's turning out that species is a slippery concept.   If two species never interbreed, they're clearly separate.  If the occasionally interbreed, they may still be separate, but how occasionally?  I'd agree that Neanderthals are separate.  It's interesting that interbreedability can go on for a surprisingly long time, hundreds of thousands of years.  Some plants are still separate species after tens of millions of years of interbreeding.
 

Some plants are still interfertile after tens of millions of years of presumed isolation. For example North American and European species of lime (basswood), oak, plane, poplar, and horse chestnut (buckeye). Is that what you meant; if not I'm curious what taxa you have evidence for tens of millions of interbreeding; I would have thought that evidence for such would be hard to come by.
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alias Ernest Major