Darwin-L Message Log 2:88 (October 1993)

Academic Discussion on the History and Theory of the Historical Sciences

This is one message from the Archives of Darwin-L (1993–1997), a professional discussion group on the history and theory of the historical sciences.

Note: Additional publications on evolution and the historical sciences by the Darwin-L list owner are available on SSRN.

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<2:88>From barryr@ucmp1.Berkeley.EDU  Sat Oct 16 00:23:01 1993

Date: Fri, 15 Oct 93 18:06:59 PDT
From: barryr@ucmp1.Berkeley.EDU (Barry Roth)
To: darwin-l@ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Re:  waterbabes

I have been following (with about one eye) the aquatic ape thread on
sci.bio on Usenet.  Most of the posts are devoted to yarn-spinning and
just-so stories pro and con.  I do wonder how proponents of the aquatic
ape scenario would respond to the following:

According to the DNA clock (and the figure on about p. 20 of _The Third
Chimpanzee_ by Jared Diamond), the split between the gorilla clade and
the clade (Homo,(chimpanzee,bonobo)) is set at about 1.7-2.0 Ma.  So how
could climatic events in the late Miocene (ca. 7-5 Ma) have anything to
do with autapomorphies of Homo?

Unless, of course, we are willing to admit massive and homoplastic
reversals in both the gorilla and (chimp,bonobo) clades ...

 Barry Roth
 Museum of Paleontology, University of California, Berkeley
 barryr@ucmp1.berkeley.edu    Phone: (415) 387-8538

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