[asa] Speciation

Isn't it correct to say that every act of reproduction leads to offspring that are members of the same species as the parents? And yet, speciation does occur. The significance is that there is seldom, if ever, a "first" of any species, not just humans. So it seems that there is never a first organism, in the sense of a first of a species. As always, the exceptions prove the rule. Any time a single mutation event is sufficient to generate differentiation for a new species, the rule would be broken. Perhaps the biologists on this list can tell us how often that occurs.

Randy

David wrote:

  Seems to me you have roughly described speciation in general. This is why it puzzled me so much when someone asserted here that there wasn't a first human. There is always a first organism.

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Received on Sun Oct 4 20:34:24 2009