Another fossil rewrites evolutionary history!
Then again... maybe not. Check out this post at Paul Garner's blog:
Fossils that rewrite evolutionary history...or not, as the case may be
He's talking about this paper:
Tarver et al. 2010. Is evolutionary history repeatedly rewritten in light of new fossil discoveries? Proc R Soc B doi: 10.1098/rspb.2010.0663.
Long story short: You can say it legitimately about dinosaurs, since discoveries there really do tend to upset previous evolutionary scenarios, but not about catarrhine primates (the Old World monkeys and apes, which includes Homo sapiens). Funny thing is that I tend to hear people saying their new hominid fossil rewrites evolutionary history more often than I hear the same thing about some new dinosaur fossil. Paul points to Ida as a prime example.
The paper's free, so check it out.
Feedback? Email me at toddcharleswood [at] gmail [dot] com.
Fossils that rewrite evolutionary history...or not, as the case may be
He's talking about this paper:
Tarver et al. 2010. Is evolutionary history repeatedly rewritten in light of new fossil discoveries? Proc R Soc B doi: 10.1098/rspb.2010.0663.
Long story short: You can say it legitimately about dinosaurs, since discoveries there really do tend to upset previous evolutionary scenarios, but not about catarrhine primates (the Old World monkeys and apes, which includes Homo sapiens). Funny thing is that I tend to hear people saying their new hominid fossil rewrites evolutionary history more often than I hear the same thing about some new dinosaur fossil. Paul points to Ida as a prime example.
The paper's free, so check it out.
Feedback? Email me at toddcharleswood [at] gmail [dot] com.