POLI 1001 Chapter : Anthro Part Two
Document Summary
A group of organisms that can produce fertile offspring . Genus- refers to a grouping of similar species. Similar genera are grouped into families and super families, and similar families are grouped into orders. Humans, great apes, and gibbons make up the biological superfamily. Together with monkeys and prosimians, the hominids belong to the order primates. Evolution is actually a process of splitting ancestral populations into distinct lineages. Mitochondrial dna- located outside of the nucleus, differs from nuclear dna in that it is inherited from the maternal lineage. Paleoanthropologist- scientist specializing in the study of the hominid lineage- rely on fossils to construct the evolutionary history of humanity. One of the major gaps in the fossil record is a representative of the common ancestor between human and chimps- the missing link . Traits acquired during life are not transmitted genetically to the next generation. Reconstructing evolutionary history (phylogeny) is based on genetic and fossil evidence.
