The phylogenetic position of the Yunxian cranium elucidates the origin of Homo longi and the Denisovans

2024/05/17 by Xiaobo Feng, Qiyu Yin, Feng Gao +10 · 1 voice · 2 citations
Arts and Humanities · Engineering · Social Sciences · #Anatomy and Medical Technology #Paleopathology and ancient diseases #Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology

paper · pdf · doi:10.1101/2024.05.16.594603

openalex publication_date 2024/05/17 · openalex created_date 2024/05/20 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22

Abstract

Diverse Middle Pleistocene forms of Homo coexisted in Africa, Europe, and Asia, and it's controversial whether these fossil humans represent different species or clades. The ~1 Ma old Yunxian 2 fossil from China is crucial for understanding the cladogenesis of Homo and the origin of Homo sapiens . Here, we restored and reconstructed the distorted Yunxian 2 cranium using new technology. The results show that this cranium displays mosaic features of plesiomorphy and apomorphy. Geometric-morphometric, phylogenetic and Bayesian tip-dating analyses including the reconstructed Yunxian 2 suggest that it is an early member of the Asian Homo longi clade, which probably includes the Denisovans, and is the sister group to the Homo sapiens clade. Both the H. sapiens and H. longi clades had deep roots extending beyond the Middle Pleistocene, and the basal position of the Yunxian fossil cranium suggests that it represents a population lying close to the last common ancestor of the two clades.

Citations

• MrBayes 3.2: Efficient Bayesian Phylogenetic Inference and Model Choice Across a Large Model Space
• A late Middle Pleistocene Denisovan mandible from the Tibetan Plateau
• Making sense of eastern Asian Late Quaternary hominin variability
• TNT, a free program for phylogenetic analysis
• Age of the oldest known Homo sapiens from eastern Africa

Cited by

• The role of Denisovan paleohabitats in shaping modern human genetic resistance to viral, bacterial, and parasitic infections
• The proteome of the late Middle Pleistocene Harbin individual

Discussions

• Yunxian 2: miembro basal del clado formado por Homo longi y los denisovanos, y próximo al último antepasado común de dicho clado y del clado de Homo sapiens. #preprint doi.org/10.1101/2024... HT @mu- [bsky, 2 points, 0 comments]

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