Re: [asa] 'Lucy' is not direct ancestor of humans

> Israeli researchers: 'Lucy' is not direct ancestor of humans
>
> http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1176152801536&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
>
> Could someone more knowledgeable than I comment on the significance and
> implications of this. My take is that it does not matter much as Lucy
> would seem to occur after the split with homo sapiens.
>

There's some question as to the merit of their approach. Their
analysis was of another specimen of Lucy's species (plus lots of other
primate jaws). It turns out to have a rather massive jaw hinge, like
that of the robust australopithecines, which are generally accepted to
be a dead-end branch. However, there's more to a skeleton than just
the jaw hinge, and it would be nice if they expanded their analysis to
additional parts.

As far as the general evolutionary picture goes, it doesn't matter
much whether Lucy is a great great great... grandmother of modern
humans or a third cousin twice removed. It might have some
implications on the exact details of just what feature was in our
ancestor when.

-- 
Dr. David Campbell
425 Scientific Collections
University of Alabama
"I think of my happy condition, surrounded by acres of clams"
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